The Supreme Court’s refusal to hear a challenge to the removal of library books in Llano County, was undoubtedly seen as a stamp of approval by book banners around the country.
In case you’re not up on the library aspect of Texas fascism, a legal fight began in 2022 after seven residents of Llano County, Texas filed a federal lawsuit against Llano county officials “alleging that they had taken several books off the library shelves, paused new book orders and replaced the county library board members with those in favor of book bans,” The Texas Tribune reported.
Several of the titles removed were the same as those included in a list of 850 books that former state Rep. Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth, considered objectionable. Some of the affected books include Jazz Jennings’ “Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen” and Susan Campbell Bartoletti’s “They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group.”
The books were originally ordered reinstated in 2023 by an Obama-appointed district judge, but the very conservative 5th Circuit overturned that decision in May. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the plaintiffs’ appeal of the book ban.
Although the Supreme Court did not provide any explanation, its decision means “library patrons will have few, if any, avenues to reverse library-book removals in court,” according to the San Antonio Express-News.
“For decades, officials in Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana were barred from removing library books ‘simply because they dislike the ideas within them’ under a precedent set by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1995,” the Express-News noted. “But the appeals court overturned that precedent in May and found public library patrons have no right to receive information under the First Amendment.”
Conservatives are pretending they’re not banning books or interfering with anyone’s right to read. The Trump-appointed judge who authored the 2023 5th Circuit ruling wrote, ““If a disappointed patron can’t find a book in the library, he can order it online, buy it from a bookstore, or borrow it from a friend,” The Tribune also reported.
As a long-time librarian, I can personally attest that this is a load of BS. First, the whole point of a library is to provide materials free of charge to all. Second, there are lots of legit reasons you may not want to reveal to your friend or to Amazon chief Jeff “Bend the Knee to Trump” Bezos or to anyone else what you choose to read. And, of course, there is no guarantee any of your friends will have whatever material you seek.
Most Americans oppose book bans. In 2023, The Tribune reported that book bans in school libraries were “gaining steam in districts across the state.” But in May, Texas voters booted out book banners around the state.
Now we know the U.S. Supreme Court is not on the side of the public or of the right to read.
