The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled on August 16 that Iowa’s ban on books containing “sexually explicit material” from school libraries is enforceable under the law. [The 74]

Catch up quick: The law, Senate File (SF) 496, was signed by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds in May 2023 and banned books with written and visual depictions of sex acts from school libraries (with exceptions for religious texts), among other controversial provisions that predominantly impact LGBTQ+ and gender nonconforming students. [Iowa Capital Dispatch]

Portions of SF 496 were blocked by U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Locher in January, who wrote in his ruling that there is no similar book restriction anywhere else in the nation and the law places a “‘pall of orthodoxy’ over school libraries,” a violation of the First Amendment. [Iowa Public Radio]

  • Judge Locher directly referenced Keyishian v. Board of Regents, a 1967 Supreme Court case which set precedent for academic freedom via the First Amendment.

The ruling: The U.S. Appeals Court ruled that the district court decision was an improper evaluation of the law, but rejected the state’s assertion that public school library materials constitute “government speech.”

  • This is interestingly similar to the August 14 “intellectual diversity” ruling in Indiana, in which Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita (R) argued that professors at public colleges and universities actually don’t retain First Amendment rights in the classroom, since “classroom curriculum of a public university is government speech set in accordance with State law,” citing the 2006 Supreme Court ruling on Garcetti v. Ceballos.

    It begs the question of whether or not Republicans will keep trying to ban certain divisive content in public schools on the basis of public employees not having the same First Amendment protections as other citizens while in the workplace, hoping it will eventually stick.

What’s next: The U.S. Appeals Court ruling returns the case to district court for further action. The law is also still being challenged by multiple organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, Lambda Legal, Iowa Safe Schools, and Penguin Random House (a publisher impacted by the book ban).

In the meantime, Iowa can enforce the book ban. School libraries will have to ensure all books and materials are “age appropriate,” meaning they don’t contain depictions of sex acts or include content related to gender identity or sexual orientation for students in grades K-6.