A federal judge laid the groundwork Tuesday morning and will hear arguments this afternoon in a lawsuit challenging provisions of a new state law that would criminalize giving minors library material deemed to be obscene.
Attorneys for a coalition of plaintiffs suing to overturn two provisions of Act 372, a new Arkansas law on library material, asked a judge to block enforcement of contested elements of the law.
The law is scheduled to take effect Aug. 1.
The complaint was filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas on June 2. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks.
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed the legislation March 30.
The lawsuit is challenging two of Act 372’s six sections, including a new Class A misdemeanor offense for furnishing a harmful item to a minor. Library personnel and others could face criminal prosecution and up to a year in jail if they “knowingly” lend an item deemed harmful to minors based on existing obscenity law.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs have dubbed it the “availability provision.”
“This will necessarily force libraries and bookstores to confine to a secure ‘adults only’ area — and so to segregate from their general patrons and customers — any item that might be deemed harmful to the youngest minor, even if there is no constitutional basis for limiting its availability to older minors or adults,” according to the complaint.
The other challenged section establishes procedures for people to challenge the appropriateness of library material made available to the public.
Read more at
https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2023/jul/25/judge-weighs-request-to-stop-library-law-from/
