Powerhouse publishers file lawsuit challenging Florida’s school library restriction law

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A coalition of six power-house publishers, several authors and Florida parents are taking the Florida Department of Education to court in an effort to challenge parts of the state’s law regulating what content can appear on library shelves, according to our sister station WJAX.

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Several smaller challenges, mostly directed at individual school board decisions on specific books, have been filed in recent months, but the new challenge attempts to get to the heart of the matter by taking direct aim at the state law led to the book challenge frenzy in Florida.

The 99-page lawsuit was filed in a federal court in Orlando.

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The suit cites examples of classics plaintiffs argue have been arbitrarily removed from school library shelves like For Whom the Bell Tolls, Slaughter-House Five and The Color Purple.

“Florida is at the epicenter of this, unfortunately. And there’s a lot of hurt and pain going on there,” Daniel Novack, Associate General Counsel at Penguin Random House, said.

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Penguin Random House is one of the publishers challenging the state’s library restriction laws.

Novak explained that the main issue with that law is the loose definition of content that is harmful to minors, which serves as the standard for determining whether a book must be removed or restricted.

“This is about taking a law that purports to target pornography, but in effect, removes thousands of books in mass with no consideration of their literary value,” Novak said.

In response to the suit, the Florida Department of Education issued a statement to Action News Jax.

“This is a stunt. There are no books banned in Florida. Sexually explicit material and instruction are not suitable for schools,” FDOE Communications Director Syndey Booker said.

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State leaders have argued that content in school libraries is government speech and therefore not subject to full First Amendment protections.

But Novak argues the First Amendment does apply.

He contends school library shelves are more akin to the marketplace of ideas.

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“We’re just asking for the right for our ideas to compete alongside everyone else’s and let the best ideas win,” Novak said.

Unlike many of the more local and individual challenges filed in this space, the outcome of the new lawsuit has the potential to impact every school in the state.

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