Lawsuits over school and library book bans are now active in federal courts across at least eight states, and the rulings coming out of them disagree with each other. Challengers — major publishers, the Authors Guild, the ACLU, PEN America, parents, and students — have won injunctions in Florida, Colorado, Arkansas, and Idaho, and partial relief in a case involving Department of Defense schools. States and school boards have won at the Fifth Circuit in Texas, at the Eighth Circuit in Iowa, and at the district court level in Tennessee. The Supreme Court declined in December 2025 to resolve the split.
What the Lawsuits Are Fighting Over
Nearly every case turns on the same constitutional question: does removing a book from a school or public library because officials object to its content violate the First Amendment?
Challengers rely on the Supreme Court’s 1982 plurality in Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District v. Pico, which held that school boards “may not remove books from library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books.”1Cornell Law Institute. Board of Education v. Pico, 457 U.S. 853 Pico drew a line between the voluntary library and the compulsory classroom, where schools have broader say over curriculum.2Justia. Board of Education v. Pico, 457 U.S. 853
States and school boards counter that library curation is “government speech” outside First Amendment review, that schools have wide discretion to decide what is educationally suitable, and that pulling a book from a shelf is not a true ban because students can get it elsewhere.3Stanford Law Review. Books for Me but Not for Thee Those three arguments show up in every defense brief, and different federal courts are now accepting or rejecting them in opposite ways.
Where Challengers Are Winning
Florida’s HB 1069 Struck Down
Florida’s HB 1069 requires districts to remove books depicting “sexual conduct” from school libraries and to pull challenged books within five school days pending review.4CBS News. Florida Book Ban Major Publishers Sue Over Law Schools In August 2024, six major publishers — Penguin Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, and Sourcebooks — along with the Authors Guild and authors including Julia Alvarez, John Green, and Jodi Picoult, sued the Florida Board of Education.5Authors Guild. Authors Guild Celebrates Victory Against Florida’s Book Ban Law
On August 14, 2025, U.S. District Judge Carlos Mendoza granted summary judgment to the plaintiffs. He rejected the government-speech argument, found the “sexual conduct” standard facially overbroad because it ignored a work’s overall literary or educational value, and backed the professional discretion of school librarians.5Authors Guild. Authors Guild Celebrates Victory Against Florida’s Book Ban Law Florida has appealed to the Eleventh Circuit, where the case is pending.6Arkansas Attorney General. Amicus Brief, Penguin Random House v. Gibson
Escambia County, Florida
A parallel Florida case targets the Escambia County School Board directly. PEN America, Penguin Random House, authors, and local parents sued in May 2023, alleging viewpoint-based removal of more than 150 books, disproportionately by Black and LGBTQ+ authors.7Protect Democracy. PEN America v. Escambia County School Board U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell denied the board’s motion to dismiss in January 2024, rejecting the government-speech defense and letting the First Amendment claims proceed; he dismissed an Equal Protection claim.8Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse. PEN American Center Inc v. Escambia County School Board In July 2025, the Eleventh Circuit dismissed the board’s appeal of a discovery ruling without reaching the merits.9Justia. PEN American Center v. Escambia County School Board, No. 24-13896 In summer 2025 the board voted to remove more than 400 additional books without individual review, and the plaintiffs added a claim challenging those mass removals.
Arkansas Act 372
Arkansas Act 372 would have made librarians criminally liable, up to a year in jail, for providing minors with materials deemed “harmful,” and would have given elected officials the final word on challenged books.10ACLU of Arkansas. Fayetteville Public Library v. Crawford County U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks blocked both provisions in July 2023 as likely unconstitutionally vague,11U.S. District Court, Western District of Arkansas. Fayetteville Public Library v. Crawford County, No. 5:23-CV-05086 and in December 2024 he granted summary judgment to the plaintiffs, making the injunction permanent.
Colorado’s Elizabeth School District
The ACLU, the Authors Guild, and the NAACP sued the Elizabeth School District after it permanently removed 19 books, including The Bluest Eye, Beloved, The Hate U Give, The Kite Runner, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and six Ellen Hopkins novels.12ACLU of Colorado. Crookshanks et al. v. Elizabeth School District U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney granted a preliminary injunction in March 2025 ordering the books returned. The district abandoned its Tenth Circuit appeal on January 20, 2026,13CPR News. Elizabeth School District Drops Banned Book Appeal and the books are back on shelves while the case moves toward trial.14Authors Guild. Federal Court Orders Books Back on Shelves in Colorado
Idaho’s HB 710
Idaho’s HB 710, in effect since July 2024, exposes schools and public libraries to lawsuits and penalties if minors access materials deemed “harmful,” incorporating existing statutes whose definition of such materials includes depictions of “homosexuality.”15Idaho Capital Sun. Book Publishers, Authors, Donnelly Public Library Sue Idaho Officials Publishers, the Authors Guild, the Donnelly Public Library, and local families sued in February 2025.16Publishing Perspectives. US Publishers Sue Idaho Alleging Book Banning On January 29, 2026, the Ninth Circuit reversed the district court’s denial of a preliminary injunction, finding the law’s “context clause” facially overbroad and sending the case back for a narrower injunction.17Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Northwest Association of Independent Schools v. Labrador, No. 25-2491 The law remains in effect in the meantime, and some libraries have already restricted access.
Department of Defense Schools
The ACLU sued in April 2025 on behalf of 12 students from military families stationed in Virginia, Kentucky, Italy, and Japan, challenging the removal of 596 titles from Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) libraries and curricula after executive orders by President Trump targeting diversity-related content.18Military Times. Judge Orders Immediate Return of Books Removed From 5 DOD Schools On October 20, 2025, U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles ordered immediate restoration of removed materials at five specific schools and barred further removals there, but declined to extend the injunction to all DoDEA schools worldwide. The government appealed in December 2025, and the plaintiffs cross-appealed the limited scope; the consolidated case is before the Fourth Circuit.19Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse. E.K. v. Department of Defense Education Activity In March 2026, the district court denied the government’s motion to dismiss the underlying case.20ACLU of Virginia. E.K. v. Department of Defense Education Activity
Where States and School Boards Are Winning
The Fifth Circuit: Llano County, Texas
The most consequential ruling for defenders of book removals came out of a small Texas county. After seven library patrons sued over the removal of 17 books from Llano County public libraries, a federal judge in 2022 ordered the books returned.21Reuters. U.S. Supreme Court Turns Away Appeal in Texas Library Book Ban On May 23, 2025, the Fifth Circuit, sitting en banc, reversed 10–7. The majority held that a public library’s shelving decisions are government speech beyond First Amendment challenge, overruled the circuit’s own 1995 precedent in Campbell v. St. Tammany Parish School Board, and rejected Pico as a basis to challenge library removals.22Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Little v. Llano County, No. 23-50224 Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan, writing for the majority, said removing books is not banning them because patrons can obtain the materials elsewhere.
The ruling now controls Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
The Eighth Circuit: Iowa’s Senate File 496
Iowa’s Senate File 496 requires schools to remove library books depicting “sex acts” and restricts instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation through sixth grade. Over 3,000 books have come off Iowa school shelves, including works by Hemingway, Orwell, Angelou, and Morrison. Penguin Random House, five other publishers, the Authors Guild, and several authors sued in November 2023, and U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher blocked the law in 2025 as overly broad.23PEN America. New Legal Brief Against Iowa Book Ban Law
On April 6, 2026, the Eighth Circuit vacated that injunction. The court held that school libraries constitute “school-sponsored speech” under Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, that the removal requirements are reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns, and — like the Fifth Circuit — that Pico is not binding.24Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. Penguin Random House v. Robbins, No. 25-1819 The court denied rehearing petitions on May 11, 2026, and sent the case back for trial, so Iowa can enforce the law in the interim.25Publishers Weekly. Appeals Court Denies Petition to Rehear Book Ban Case
Rutherford County, Tennessee
In April 2025, the ACLU of Tennessee sued the Rutherford County School Board on behalf of PEN America and three families, challenging the removal or restriction of more than 145 books, including Beloved, Catch-22, A Clockwork Orange, and works by John Green, Judy Blume, and Angie Thomas.26WGNS Radio. ACLU TN Files Lawsuit on Behalf of Families, PEN America to Halt Book Bans in Rutherford County Schools The complaint alleges the board relied on ratings from a website associated with Moms for Liberty and overruled its own review committee’s recommendations in more than 70% of cases.27PEN America. ACLU of Tennessee Files Lawsuit to Halt Book Bans in Rutherford County In November 2025, U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson denied a preliminary injunction, reasoning that the board “has not prohibited students from reading the books or acquiring them elsewhere; instead it has merely opted not to carry them on school library bookshelves.”28Chalkbeat Tennessee. Library Book Ban Upheld in Federal Ruling, Rutherford County Trial is expected in fall 2026.
The Supreme Court Has Declined to Step In
On December 8, 2025, the Supreme Court denied review in the Llano County case, leaving the Fifth Circuit’s government-speech ruling in place for Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi but setting no nationwide rule.21Reuters. U.S. Supreme Court Turns Away Appeal in Texas Library Book Ban With Florida’s HB 1069 case now at the Eleventh Circuit, the DoDEA case at the Fourth Circuit, and more rulings coming out of the Fifth, Eighth, and Ninth Circuits, the split that could eventually force the Court to intervene keeps widening.
A Separate Texas Case: The READER Act
One Texas lawsuit does not fit the library-shelf pattern. Book People v. Morath (originally Book People v. Wong) challenges HB 900, known as the READER Act, which requires book vendors to assign sexual-content ratings to materials sold to public schools. Booksellers, publishers, and the Authors Guild filed in July 2023 and won a preliminary injunction the next month. In January 2024, the Fifth Circuit affirmed, finding the rating requirement likely amounted to unconstitutional compelled speech.29Justia. Book People v. Wong, No. 23-50668 On October 21, 2025, the district court made the injunction permanent, ruling the law “compels speech, is void for vagueness, and is an unconstitutional prior restraint.” Texas has appealed, and the case is back at the Fifth Circuit.30Association of University Presses. AUPresses Files Amicus Brief in Texas Book Banning Case Notably, the Fifth Circuit’s hostility to First Amendment challenges in the Llano shelving case has not extended to this compelled-speech theory.
State Legislatures Are Moving Both Ways
Eight states — California, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Washington — have enacted “freedom to read” laws that bar removing library books for partisan or ideological reasons and require formal review processes. At least 19 additional states introduced similar bills in 2025.31Education Week. States Are Banning Book Bans. Will It Work?32American Libraries Magazine. Banning the Book Bans
Legislation in the opposite direction is also active. Since 2021, at least 20 states have passed laws restricting school instruction on race or gender, which PEN America reports has directly fueled book removals.31Education Week. States Are Banning Book Bans. Will It Work? A North Carolina bill introduced in April 2026 would extend existing restrictions on gender identity and sexual orientation instruction to cover school library collections and authorize financial penalties against noncompliant districts.33NC Newsline. NC Republicans Propose Banning Books, Withholding Pay Over Parents’ Bill of Rights For now, which law applies to a student depends almost entirely on which state and which federal circuit they live in.