LLANO COUNTY, Texas — Seven Llano County residents have filed a lawsuit against the county judge, commissioners, library board members and library systems director for restricting and banning books from its public library system.
The lawsuit, filed Monday, states that the county judge, commissioners and library director removed several books from shelves, suspended access to digital library books, replaced the county's library board with residents in favor of book bans, halted new book orders and allowed the library board to close its meetings. The lawsuit alleges that these actions are a coordinated censorship campaign that violates both the First and Fourteenth amendments.
The plaintiffs insist their constitutional rights were violated when local officials censored books based on content and failed to provide proper notice or an opportunity for community comment. The plaintiffs say when they attempted to check out several removed books, they were denied access.
The plaintiffs' lawyer, Ellen Leonida, told The Texas Tribune that she plans to file a preliminary injunction this week to get books back on shelves and access to the digital library distributor reinstated while the lawsuit is pending. She said she also wants the lawsuit to serve as a warning that small groups cannot control the availability of books without resistance.
"They can’t censor books, unequivocally, based on viewpoints that they disagree with," Leonida said.
The suit states that the defendants worked to remove several children's books that they found inappropriate from Llano County library shelves last fall. The suit further states that after State Rep. Matt Krause (R-Fort Worth) notified the Texas Education Agency of a list of 850 books he found objectionable that were found in school libraries, some of those titles were removed from Llano libraries.
To learn more, read the lawsuit in full below:
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