Last July, Idaho enacted HB 710, more commonly known as the “Children’s Library and Protection Act,” which restricted access to books that were considered dangerous to minors. This book ban is similar to the ones instituted in Florida and Iowa.
This week, a handful of major book publishers—Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Club, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, and Sourcebooks—filed a lawsuit against the book ban to lead the efforts of overturning the law, according to The Guardian.
Library, Multiple Publishers Fight Back Against Idaho Book Ban
These publishers, which are also joined by a handful of authors, libraries, and select individuals, are hoping to upend the 2024 legislation signed into law by Gov. Brad Little. Since HB 710, books like Clockwork Orange, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings and The Bluest Eyes are some examples of novels that have been deemed “adults only.”
According to the Idaho Capital Sun, the latest lawsuit accuses HB 710 of violating the constitutional rights of “publishers, authors, parents, librarians, educators, and students by forcing public schools and libraries to undertake drastic measures to restrict minors’ access to books, or face injunction and/or monetary penalty.” They’re aiming to have the law voided for violating the 14th Amendment.
Penguin Random House’s Associate General Counsel Dan Novak shared in a news conference that the success of their books and their authors “rises and falls based on the interest they earn from readers” but that that can’t occur when “the government walls off young people from ideas.”
Texas and Florida have the strictest book bans in the country, followed by states like Missouri, Utah, and South Carolina. Some states have also enacted laws going the other way to protect diverse books and prevent bans, which include California, Illinois, and Maryland.
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