Federal Court Blocks Texas “Sexual Content” Book-Rating Law

A federal court delivered a big win for anti-censorship advocates by blocking key parts of a Texas law that would require booksellers to rate the titles they sell to schools for sexual content.

The traditionally conservative Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the plaintiffs, who argued that the 2023 law’s over-broad provisions thwarted compliance. Two independent bookstores in Texas joined trade associations and free-speech groups in suing key state agencies to keep the law from taking effect.

Only the law’s provisions affecting school libraries currently remain standing, which leaves book decisions in the hands of area school districts.

The Texas Republican who authored the measure said he will ask the state’s attorney general to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. “(I) look forward on how Texas can improve vendor accountability with other legislative solutions next session,” Rep. Jared Patterson posted on X.

Still, for those fighting book bans in the Lone Star State and nationally, the court’s decision was cause for celebration.

“This is a win for Texas students and a vindication of the freedom to read,” the Texas Freedom to Read Project posted on X as part of a lengthy thread highlighting key points in the court’s 36-page decision.

“They recognized that this law as it’s written would force us to divert time and effort away from our regular business,” BookPeople CEO Charley Rejsek told the Austin American-Statesman. Austin’s BookPeople and Houston’s Blue Willow Books were among the suit’s plaintiffs. “This was not good for any business.”

Rejsek added that rating books by the law’s April 1 deadline “was completely impossible to do.”

The so-called READER Act, which started life as HB 900, requires any vendors who sell to school districts to follow the law’s ratings system for sexual content for all books sold to schools. Districts also can’t buy books from vendors who don’t provide ratings. The law’s acronym stands for Restricting Explicit and Adult-Designated Educational Resources.

Preventing school sales cuts a significant source of income, booksellers argued as part of their case. Blue Willow estimated it had sold more than $200,000 worth of books to Katy ISD outside of Houston during the past five to seven years. But due to READER, the district has paused all buying of new books.

“Booksellers are essential in advancing the freedom to read for all. Blocking the implementation of HB 900 will help ensure authors can reach Texas audiences and bookstores can distribute to public schools without government intrusion in their business,” said Kasey Meehan, program director, Freedom to Read at PEN America. The group filed an amicus brief in November supporting the lawsuit.

“We look forward to the day that it is struck down for good,” Meehan said. “Until then, we are relieved that the injunction helps protect the fundamental right to read for students in Texas.”

The court rejected the state’s claim equating the required book ratings to existing warning labels on music or cigarettes.

“The ratings READER requires are neither factual nor uncontroversial,” the court said in its decision. “The statute requires vendors to undertake contextual analyses, weighing and balancing many factors to determine a rating for each book. Balancing a myriad of factors that depend on community standards is anything but the mere disclosure of factual information.

“And it has already proven controversial.”

Indeed, aside from the suit, the law drew widespread criticism amid unprecedented waves of restrictions on books across the country.

The court’s decision stands in sharp rebuke to the situation in Florida, where state laws have contributed to a wave of book bans and a climate of self-censorship for educators worried about fines or other legal penalties.

“HB 900 would’ve removed 1000s of books from Tx schools, because the law poorly defined the terms that would result in removal & punished raters for anything other than maximalist interpretations,” teacher and Texas Freedom to Read Project co-director Frank Strong wrote in a post on X. He added that the same formula led to the removal of 1,600 books in Florida’s Escambia County.

There’s also a lawsuit against those removals, and a federal judge buoyed that effort Jan. 12 by  ruling that the Florida complaint can proceed.

Back in Texas, the Fifth Circuit’s decision remained a welcome boost for advocates of intellectual freedom.

It “lets Texas parents make decisions for their own children without government interference or control,” the plaintiffs said in a joint statement. “This is a good day for bookstores, readers, and free expression.”