(Photo by Max McCoy/Kansas Reflector)
A legal organization focused on freedom of expression filed a new legal brief Monday asking the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals to keep the injunction in place blocking Iowa’s ban on books that are not “age appropriate” from K-12 schools.
PEN America, a nonprofit focused on freedom of expression, filed the brief in support of the legal challenge mounted by publishers including Penguin Random House, the Iowa State Education Association and several authors, including Laurie Halse Anderson, John Green and Jodi Picoult. The plaintiffs are challenging Senate File 496, a 2023 Iowa law that prohibits books depicting sex acts from being available in K-12 school libraries, as well as banning programs, materials and instruction related to gender identity and sexual orientation for K-6 students…