Montgomery, AL – Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has joined a coalition of 21 state attorneys general in filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in support of a Florida law governing materials available in public-school libraries.
The Florida law at issue seeks to ensure that public-school libraries do not provide sexually graphic materials to K–12 students. A federal district court previously ruled that the law likely violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment and issued an order preventing Florida from enforcing it.
In their brief, the states argue that decisions regarding what materials are included in public-school libraries constitute “government speech” under the First Amendment. According to the coalition, public schools are not constitutionally required to make sexually graphic materials available to young students…