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BumRushDaShow

(144,158 posts)
Mon Dec 23, 2024, 07:31 PM Yesterday

Judge rules Arkansas law allowing criminal charges against librarians is unconstitutional

Source: AP

Updated 6:32 PM EST, December 23, 2024


FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — A federal judge on Monday struck down key parts of an Arkansas law that would have allowed criminal charges against librarians and booksellers for providing “harmful” materials to minors. U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks found that elements of the law are unconstitutional.

“I respect the court’s ruling and will appeal,” Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said in a statement to The Associated Press.

The law would have created a new process to challenge library materials and request that they be relocated to areas not accessible to children. The measure was signed by Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders in 2023, but an earlier ruling had temporarily blocked it from taking effect while it was being challenged in court.

“The law deputizes librarians and booksellers as the agents of censorship; when motivated by the fear of jail time, it is likely they will shelve only books fit for young children and segregate or discard the rest,” Brooks wrote in his ruling. A coalition that included the Central Arkansas Library System in Little Rock had challenged the law, saying fear of prosecution under the measure could prompt libraries and booksellers to no longer carry titles that could be challenged.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/arkansas-books-librarians-obscenity-lawsuit-c05fc196fe4ba9c6ffe83d3287bc0d2f

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Judge rules Arkansas law allowing criminal charges against librarians is unconstitutional (Original Post) BumRushDaShow Yesterday OP
Hooray! Gov Harah Suckabee is of course an ideologue who thinks she (they?) is protecting children Bernardo de La Paz Yesterday #1
Instead of banning them, let's just have a huge book barbecue. I mean, that's never been done before. AZLD4Candidate 22 hrs ago #2
Books bad, Guns good! sheshe2 22 hrs ago #3
Exactly! Timeflyer 11 hrs ago #5
He should've added, madashelltoo 21 hrs ago #4
Thank you Judge for some common sense. republianmushroom 8 hrs ago #6

Bernardo de La Paz

(51,238 posts)
1. Hooray! Gov Harah Suckabee is of course an ideologue who thinks she (they?) is protecting children
Mon Dec 23, 2024, 07:53 PM
Yesterday

Why is she wasting time on this when she could be doing important work like Louisiana banning health workers from promoting vaccination.

AZLD4Candidate

(6,366 posts)
2. Instead of banning them, let's just have a huge book barbecue. I mean, that's never been done before.
Mon Dec 23, 2024, 09:54 PM
22 hrs ago
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