ArentFox Schiff Secures Summary Judgment in Florida Book Banning Case

On August 13, ArentFox Schiff obtained summary judgment in federal court in Florida on its claims challenging the constitutionality of a Florida law providing for the removal of books from school and classroom libraries.

The law prohibits school library books that contain content that describes sexual conduct without consideration of the value of the book as a whole and has resulted in the removal of hundreds of books from Florida school libraries.  The State of Florida also construed a provision of the law that prohibits so-called “pornographic” content to be distinct from a prohibition on content that is obscene as to minors.

The court held that the State may not impose a blanket prohibition on non-obscene material in school libraries. It declared that the law’s provision that bans books that contain a description of “sexual conduct” is unconstitutional because it prohibits consideration of the value of the book as whole and is contrary to the US Supreme Court’s test for obscenity.  It also declared, as the plaintiffs requested, that the provision that bans books that contain “pornographic” content must be interpreted as synonymous with the test for obscenity.

Our clients include Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, MacMillan, Simon & Schuster, Sourcebooks, five award-winning authors (Julia Alvarez, Laurie Halse Anderson, John Green, Jodi Picoult, and Angie Thomas), the Authors Guild, and two high school students.

The AFS team includes Frederick J. Sperling, Adam Diederich, Kirstie Brenson, and Devin Ross.

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