Part of Arkansas book ban law is unconstitutional, federal judge rules

The Guardian ^ | Dec 24, 2024 | José Olivares

[where's_the_Outrage?]

A federal judge ruled on Monday that sections of an Arkansas law, which sought to impose criminal penalties on librarians and booksellers for distributing “harmful” material to children, were unconstitutional.

The law, known as the Arkansas Act 372, was signed into law last year by Republican governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders. It was challenged by a coalition of organizations in the state, leading to a lengthy legal battle that concluded this week.

Two sections of Act 372 subjected librarians and booksellers to jail time for distributing material that is deemed “harmful to children”. Proponents of the law, including Sanders, said the law was put in place to “protect children” from “obscene” material.

“Act 372 is just common sense: schools and libraries shouldn’t put obscene material in front of our kids,” Sanders said in a statement to KATV-TV. “I will work with Attorney General Griffin to appeal this ruling and uphold Arkansas law.”......

The two sections that were struck down on Monday had established a criminal misdemeanor for “furnishing a harmful item to a minor”, and would have required local governments to create oversight boards to review challenged material. The organizations opposing the law argued that local officials, at their own discretion, could censor whichever books and material they pleased.

[where's_the_Outrage?]

The judge is not necessarily wrong IMHO. There needs to be a defined list of banned books based on the law, do not leave it undefined.

[BitWielder1]

There is a difference between Banned and not using the book in the school curriculum.
Calls for "Banning" books usually concerns the latter.
Leftist tend to conflate the two.

[AndyJackson]

The organizations opposing the law argued that local officials, at their own discretion, could censor whichever books and material they pleased.

I thought the legal standard for pornography was "I know it when I see it."

[Waverunner]

Research, Research, Research, a local board members work is never done.

[eyeamok]

And immediately upon this ruling the State should have sent the obscene and pornographic material to EVERY LAST CHILD of all Lawyers in the State.

[9YearLurker]

Seems so quaint in the age of the Internet.

School libraries are something else...

[Spok]

Isn’t it interesting that the term “hate speech” can mean anything that a liberal doesn’t like, but “obscenity” is an unattainable standard?

[Ex-Con777]

Microprint a poem on a Glock and place it in a library as a book. Watch the selective enforcement of the Constitution then.

EC