A federal judge in Colorado has called for the Elizabeth School District to return books with explicit content to school libraries.
Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney issued a preliminary injunction that said “students’ interest in accessing books in their respective school libraries is constitutionally protected” under the First Amendment.
Plaintiffs have shown that the District removed the 19 books based on the authors’ and books’ content and viewpoints on issues such as race, sexual orientation, gender identity, LGBTQ content, and to promote the Board’s self-proclaimed ‘conservative values,” the judge wrote.
“That parents want to remove books for partisan reasons does not permit government officials to do the same,” the ruling added. “Even assuming, as the District suggests, that the majority of parents wish to remove certain books based on their conservative beliefs, the First Amendment ‘offers sweeping protection’ for those authors and readers who may adhere to the minority view.”
“Other than pretextual declarations, at this stage, there simply is no reason to believe that the books were removed because of vulgarity, age-inappropriateness, or for legitimate pedagogical concerns,” Sweeney wrote.
“We are still reviewing the decision with our attorneys. We respect the Judge’s order, but we are particularly disappointed with the decision to avoid a hearing so the District could explain the Board’s decision and the careful and transparent process it followed before removing the books,” the school district said in a statement. “We will be appealing the decision, and the District stands by the Board’s decision to remove sexually explicit and age-inappropriate content from our school libraries.”
