Judge blocks Arkansas law allowing librarians to be criminally charged over ‘harmful’ materials

  • 📰 ABC
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 40 sec. here
  • 2 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 19%
  • Publisher: 51%

Law Law Headlines News

Law Law Latest News,Law Law Headlines

Arkansas is temporarily blocked from enforcing a law that would have allowed criminal charges against librarians and booksellers for providing “harmful” materials to minors, a federal judge ruled.

FILE - Nate Coulter, executive director of the Central Arkansas Library System , looks at a book in the main branch of the public library in downtown Little Rock, Ark., on May 23, 2023. Arkansas is temporarily blocked from enforcing a law that would have allowed criminal charges against librarians and booksellers for providing “harmful” materials to minors, a federal judge ruled Saturday, July 29.

The judge also rejected a motion by the defendants, which include prosecuting attorneys for the state, seeking to dismiss the case. The lawsuit comes as lawmakers in an increasing number of conservative states are pushing for measures making it easier to ban or restrict access to books. The number of attempts to ban or restrict books across the U.S. last year was the highest in the 20 years the American Library Association has been tracking such efforts.

The executive director of Central Arkansas Library System, Nate Coulter, said the judge's 49-page decision recognized the law as censorship, a violation of the Constitution and wrongly maligning librarians.“I’m relieved that for now the dark cloud that was hanging over CALS’ librarians has lifted,” he added.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 471. in LAW

Law Law Latest News, Law Law Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Judge blocks Arkansas law allowing librarians to be criminally charged over ‘harmful’ materialsA federal judge has temporarily blocked Arkansas from enforcing a law that would have allowed criminal charges against librarians and booksellers for providing “harmful” materials to minors
Source: WOKVNews - 🏆 247. / 63 Read more »

Judge blocks Arkansas law allowing librarians to be criminally charged over ‘harmful’ materialsBREAKING: A federal judge has temporarily blocked Arkansas from enforcing a law that would have allowed criminal charges against librarians and booksellers for providing 'harmful' materials to minors.
Source: AP - 🏆 728. / 51 Read more »

Judge blocks Arkansas law allowing librarians to be criminally charged over ‘harmful’ materialsThe lawsuit comes as lawmakers in an increasing number of conservative states push for measures making it easier to ban or restrict access to books.
Source: politico - 🏆 381. / 59 Read more »

Judge blocks Arkansas law allowing librarians to be criminally charged over ‘harmful’ materialsA federal judge has temporarily blocked Arkansas from enforcing a law that would have allowed criminal charges against librarians and booksellers for providing “harmful” materials to minors.
Source: KPRC2 - 🏆 80. / 68 Read more »

Judge blocks Arkansas law allowing librarians to be criminally charged over ‘harmful’ materialsA federal judge has temporarily blocked Arkansas from enforcing a law that would have allowed criminal charges against librarians and booksellers for providing “harmful” materials to minors
Source: WOKVNews - 🏆 247. / 63 Read more »

Judge blocks Arkansas law allowing librarians to be criminally charged over ‘harmful’ materialsArkansas is temporarily blocked from enforcing a law that would have allowed criminal charges against librarians and booksellers for providing 'harmful' materials to minors, a federal judge ruled Saturday.
Source: WashTimes - 🏆 235. / 63 Read more »