Court Rules 8 Books Containing Sexual, Racial Content Must Return to Texas County’s Library Shelves

Books line the shelves at the Rice University Library in Houston, Texas, on April 26, 2022. Brandon Bell/Getty Images

A federal appeals court ruled on Thursday that eight books, including those with LGBT and racial themes, must be returned to library shelves in Llano County, Texas after they were removed following a dispute over their content.

In a 2-1 ruling, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit panel said the library in Llano County had violated the defendants’s First Amendment rights to information by removing some of the books from circulation.

A total of 17 books were initially pulled from shelves in Llano County in 2021 by county and library officials after some community members complained about their content.

The eight books to be returned to library shelves are:

• “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents” by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson;
• “They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group” by Susan Campbell Bartoletti;
• “Spinning” by Tillie Walden;
• “Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen” by Jazz Jennings;
• “Shine” by Lauren Myracle;
• “Under the Moon: A Catwoman Tale” by Lauren Myracle;
• “Gabi, a Girl in Pieces” by Isabel Quintero; and
• “Freakboy” by Kristin Elizabeth Clark.

Nine books will remain off library shelves, pending the final outcome of an appeal, after Judge Leslie H. Southwick found that they were not removed for expressing an idea or viewpoint, but rather because they focused on “juvenile, flatulent humor.”

“Perhaps a librarian selected the book believing the juvenile content would encourage juveniles to read,” Judge Southwick wrote. “Even if that is so, I do not find those books were removed on the basis of a dislike for the ideas within them when it has not been shown the books contain any ideas with which to disagree.”

First Amendment Violations

After the books were removed, seven patrons of the Llano County Library System filed a lawsuit against members of the Llano County Commissioners Court, including Judge Ron Cunningham, Commissioner Jerry Don Moss, the Llano County Library Board, and Llano County Library System director Amber Milum.

In their lawsuit, the library system members argued that pulling the books from shelves violated their First Amendment right to “access and receive ideas by restricting access to certain books based on their messages and content,” and claimed the books were removed because the defendants “disagreed with the books’ content.”

They further argued that their Fourteenth Amendment right to due process was violated because the removal of the books happened without prior notice and without any opportunity to appeal the decision.

Defendants had argued the books were removed from shelves in order to protect children from reading material that depicts sexual activity, nudity, and pornographic content, among other themes deemed inappropriate for young audiences.

In a March 2023 ruling, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman agreed and ordered dozens of books, including those covering topics such as transgender teenagers and critical race theory (CRT), to be put back on shelves.

‘Applying New Rules Will Be a Nightmare’

However, that ruling by Judge Pitman, who was nominated to the federal court by President Barack Obama, was put on hold pending an appeal.

In its ruling on June 6, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals largely agreed with the lower court’s injunction to return all books.

“Government actors may not remove books from a public library with the intent to deprive patrons of access to ideas with which they disagree,” Judge Jacques Wiener, who was nominated to the court by President George H. W. Bush, wrote in the majority opinion.

“Because that is apparently what occurred in Llano County, Plaintiffs have demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits of their First Amendment claim, as well as the remaining factors required for preliminary injunctive relief,” he continued.

A third judge on the panel, Stuart Duncan, dissented, writing that none of the books should be ordered to be returned to the library shelves.

“The commission hanging in my office says ‘Judge,’ not ‘Librarian,’” he wrote. “Imagine my surprise, then, to learn that my two esteemed colleagues have appointed themselves co-chairs of every public library board across the Fifth Circuit.

“In that new role, they have issued ‘rules’ for when librarians can remove books from the shelves and when they cannot,” the judge continued. “While I do not doubt my colleagues’ good intentions, these ’rules’ are a disaster. They lack any basis in law or common sense. And applying them will be a nightmare.”

Thursday’s ruling was a preliminary injunction, and more court proceedings will likely follow.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.