Articles Tagged: Book bans

Iowa cannot, for now, continue to enforce part of its book ban law, a federal judge said Tuesday, giving major publishers that sued the state the second temporary reprieve they requested.

Republican lawmakers’ efforts to protect children from books and material they view as obscene would extend beyond schools to all public libraries under a proposal advanced Monday. Opponents say Iowa law already includes a test that determines whether books and other materials are obscene.

Lawyers for a book publisher that is challenging Iowa’s book ban law called it a “statewide, one-size-fits-all statute that eliminates discretion by school librarians,” while lawyers for the state characterized it as an appropriate and lawful attempt by lawmakers to control the materials publicly funded schools are offering their students.

Public comments are being gathered and a public hearing on the proposed rules is scheduled for December in Des Moines.

Attorneys representing Iowa teachers and students have filed a new request asking a federal district court again block an Iowa law that has resulted in the removal of hundreds of books from Iowa public schools, including literary classics and those by Nobel Prize winners.

Also, Iowa announces first West Nile virus case for 2024

Plus, Republicans challenge Libertarians’ candidacies

The federal appeals court ruling overturns a lower court’s injunction that had paused the 2023 law

State is asking the federal appeals court to lift an injunction on the 2023 Iowa law.

The proposed state law come after a similar proposal in Pella was defeated by a public vote in November.

Brenna Bird argues law passed last year ‘is clear’

Just before the new year, a federal judge in Iowa temporarily enjoined the implementation of parts of Senate File 496, …

Commenters on Wednesday said the proposed rules did not go far enough in clarifying the intent of the legislation and would lead to far too many books being removed from school library shelves.

Most of the new state law is temporarily blocked while the federal courts hear legal challenges that claim it violates First Amendment rights to free speech

Almost half of books challenged at school are returned to shelves, but titles with LGBTQ characters, themes and stories are most likely to be banned, according to a Washington Post analysis of nearly 900 book objections nationwide.