By William Melhado | NEW ORLEANS, La. On Wednesday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals forbade the Texas Education Agency from enforcing a state law that requires book sellers to evaluate the specificity and importance of intimate references in materials they distribute to schools.
Bookstores sued the state after claiming that House Bill 900 violated their First Amendment rights, and the appellate judge, one of the most conservative courts in the country, prevailed. The lower court’s decision to stop TEA Commissioner Mike Morath from enforcing the 2023 laws was upheld by the court.
Since the appellate judge had previously ruled against the lower court’s decision in November, Wednesday’s determination was fairly amazing. A “different panel of this court” had granted the state’s appeal to stop that decision, according to Judge Don Willett with the 5th Circuit in response to the reversal.
The plaintiffs, which include shops in Houston and Austin, the American Booksellers Association, the Association of American Publishers, and the Authors Guild, contend that complying with the law is economically difficult and expensive.
Before selling them to school libraries, sellers are required to evaluate all of their books and materials for suitability based on the presence of sex representations or recommendations. What might be considered “biologically unambiguous” or “sexually explicit” content may be influenced by state criminal laws that are a little vague and open to interpretation.
According to the court’s decision, “The ratings that HB 900 requires are neither scientific nor uncontroversial.”
Booksellers are required by the law to send the TEA with their ratings of books for review, which the state is to fix and publish online. The sellers’ claim that the rating system infringed on their freedom of speech was equivalent to forced speech that required sellers to support a particular point of view was supported by the appellate court.
Additionally, the court agreed that adhering to the law may place an undue financial burden on the vendors.
The decision on Wednesday did not completely circumvent the rules. The Texas State Library and Archives Commission is currently required to establish new library selection criteria as part of HB 900. The new regulations forbid school libraries from acquiring or conserving sexually explicit materials.
Morath and Martha Wong, the Texas State Library’s head, were the first defendants in lawsuits filed against Keven Ellis, the Texas Board of Education, and Martha Wong, the Texas State Library, respectively. On Wednesday, the 5th Circuit dismissed claims made against Ellis and Wong because those leaders don’t have authority over the book ratings, which the court determined to be illegal.
Advocates for HB 900 claim that the law restores parents’ rights to guard their children from particular themes rather than exposing them to potentially offensive material in books funded by the government. Since the Texas law was passed, text restrictions have risen in popularity in the state, according to The Texas Tribune and ProPublica.
Legislators, including librarians, literacy advocates, and other parents, claim that books and other sources of information on sexuality and race are frequently targeted by laws like HB 900, which they claim are crucial for young people who may not normally see their lived experiences represented in literary works.
General assignment columnist for Austin is William Melhado. He was a Poynter-Koch fellow when he first joined the Tribune in 2022. Prior to joining the Santa Fe Reporter, a staff writer in New Mexico, he originally held positions there as a staff writer. William, a native of Boulder, Colorado, earned a master’s degree in secondary science education at CUNY Lehman College after graduating from Middlebury College with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry.
The Texas Tribune recently published the previous article, which is now republished with permission.
News of the highest quality is not something that is free.
Producing high-quality journalism isn’t cheap, perhaps it goes without saying. With every story we cover, every event we convene, and every email we send, The Texas Tribune continues to be committed to sustaining our mission: creating a more engaged and informed Texas at a time when office assets and revenues across the country are declining. We rely on members to keep our news free and our events accessible to the public because we are a nonprofit newsroom. Do you think our journalism is good? Show us your support.
