Books bans have been an ongoing issue in the United States, especially in Florida. Whether or not it is a good idea to ban books in public schools, there are people who argue that the First Amendment protects books from being banned.
According to freedomforum.org, book banning can violate the First Amendment rights of students and others who have a right to receive information and ideas contained in those books.
But does the First Amendment prohibit book bans? There has been talk that there are certain circumstances in which book bans would be prohibited, but only in those cases. On the other hand, certain books are banned due to whatever the circumstances may be.
For example, if there was a book that you saw that in your view contained inappropriate content, or if it was based on propaganda, that would be a book to ban.
According to first amendment.mtsu.edu, book banning is not a new problem in this country — nor is vigorous public criticism of such moves. And even though the government has discretion to control what’s taught in school, the First Amendment ensures the right of free speech to those who want to protest what’s happening in schools.
In Florida, there has been talk of books being banned from school libraries, and public libraries because of state law. Parents have complained and have tried to challenge school library books. They have asked school districts to submit an annual report to the state.
According to APnews.com, the list shows that book removals vary widely across the state, with some districts not reporting any restrictions and others tallying hundreds of titles pulled from the shelves. Stephana Farrell of the Florida Freedom to Read Project said that based on the group’s analysis of public records, the department’s report is an undercount because it doesn’t include books removed following an internal staff review, just those pulled following a complaint from a parent or resident.
Debate over the First Amendment’s role regarding book bans, specifically in Florida, has been going on for a long time. There are lawmakers and people who work in the government who agree with the book bans and there are others who disagree. Florida lawmakers say the government — in this case, the Department of Education — says that school library books are government speech, and because of that they are not subject to the First Amendment. The thought of banning books that are used in school systems is interesting, because there may be students who use these books for research and to do their homework, and now they have to find another way to get this information rather than just using the books that are provided for them.
Florida’s Department of Educations says that book bans are not prohibited by the First Amendment, but there are loopholes to work around that. In Leon County, most of the issues with book bans took place in 2023.
According to Flvoices, the Florida Legislature passed HB 1069 during the 2023 session, restricting pronoun usage in schools, while also mandating counties produce updated parental rights policies in regard to school library content.
For more information, head to https://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/censorship#:~:text=The%20right%20to%20speak%20and,music%20and%20materials%20on%20the