Montgomery, AL – Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has joined a coalition of 21 state attorneys general in filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in support of a Florida law governing materials available in public-school libraries.
The Florida law at issue seeks to ensure that public-school libraries do not provide sexually graphic materials to K–12 students. A federal district court previously ruled that the law likely violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment and issued an order preventing Florida from enforcing it.
In their brief, the states argue that decisions regarding what materials are included in public-school libraries constitute “government speech” under the First Amendment. According to the coalition, public schools are not constitutionally required to make sexually graphic materials available to young students.
“It should be common sense that the First Amendment does not require public schools to fill their library shelves with graphic books depicting sex acts,” Marshall stated. “But we are at the point where such commonsense interpretations have to be spelled out in legal briefs, so we are proud to help Florida defend its law and we call on the Eleventh Circuit to quickly correct the decision of the district court.”
The brief is led by Arkansas and includes attorneys general from Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals will review the case and determine whether the lower court’s ruling should stand or be overturned.
