Texas book rating law blocked in Court of Appeals

In a development Publishers Weekly described as ‘a major victory for freedom to read advocates’, the Fifth Circuit of the US Court of Appeals upheld a lower court decision to block key provisions of HB 900, Texas’s book rating law, reported the publication.

According to Publishers Weekly, the decision ‘easily dispatched with the state’s key legal arguments’, finding that the law ‘likely violated First Amendment protections against compelled speech’.

Originally signed on 12 June 2023, the law requires book vendors to ‘review and rate’ books sold to Texas schools for ‘sexual content’. In July, a coalition, which included the American Booksellers Association and the Association of American Publishers, among other organisations, filed a lawsuit challenging the law, and judge Alan D Albright issued an opinion and order blocking the law in September. This decision was appealed immediately by the state, and later in September, a separate motions panel of the Fifth Circuit issued an administrative stay on Albright’s injunction, ‘which actually allowed the law to take effect pending further action by the appeals court’. This decision, ruled on 17 January, means that the stay is lifted.

In a joint statement shared with Publishing Perspectives, the plaintiffs said: ‘With this historic decision the court has moved decisively to ensure the constitutionally protected speech of authors, booksellers, publishers, and readers, and prevent the state government from unlawfully compelling speech on the part of private citizens. […] This is a good day for bookstores, readers, and free expression.’

Category: International news