Attorney General Steve Marshall of Alabama has joined a coalition of 21 state attorneys general in filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. The brief supports a Florida law that restricts public-school libraries from providing sexually graphic materials to students.
A federal district court in Florida previously ruled that the law likely violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment and issued an order preventing its enforcement. In response, the coalition’s brief argues that decisions regarding school library content fall under “government speech” as defined by the First Amendment, and that schools are not obligated to make sexually explicit materials available to K-12 students.
“It should be common sense that the First Amendment does not require public schools to fill their library shelves with graphic books depicting sex acts. But we are at the point where such commonsense interpretations have to be spelled out in legal briefs, so we are proud to help Florida defends its law and we call on the Eleventh Circuit to quickly correct the decision of the district court,” Attorney General Marshall stated.
The Arkansas-led brief includes support from attorneys general representing Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.
