 |
| From: U-turn in Education |
By Gretchen Garrity
A Louisiana lawsuit brought by a trio of axed library board members has been dismissed. The summary from Justia states:
"Following public outcry over "Pride Month" displays in St. Tammany
Parish's public libraries, the Parish Council passed a resolution that
vacated the terms of the Library Board of Control members, staggered
those terms in accordance with Louisiana law, and appointed new Board
members. Three ousted Board members—Anthony Parr, Rebecca Taylor, and
William McHugh, III—sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, asserting
viewpoint-discrimination, free-speech, retaliation, and
substantive-due-process claims against the Council and Councilman David
Cougle. They sought declaratory and injunctive relief to prevent the
resolution from taking effect.
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana
ruled that the legislative privilege was inapplicable because the
resolution was not "legislative" in nature. Defendants brought an
interlocutory appeal challenging this ruling. Before addressing the
legislative privilege issue, the United States Court of Appeals for the
Fifth Circuit examined whether the plaintiffs had standing to bring
their claims.
The Fifth Circuit concluded that the plaintiffs lacked standing. The
court found that the plaintiffs' alleged speech-related injuries were
not particularized, as they were tied to their positions as Board
members and affected all members equally. Additionally, the court
determined that the plaintiffs' alleged reputational injuries were
neither fairly traceable to the defendants' conduct nor redressable by a
favorable decision. Consequently, the court vacated the district
court's order and remanded with instructions to dismiss the plaintiffs'
claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction."
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals noted, "Plaintiffs lost their Board positions and thereby lost the power to wield the levers of influence over St. Tammany's libraries—and they want that control back. But rather than pursue that aim through the political process, they have "dragged that fight into federal court by tricking it out in [constitutional] colors."
Dan Kleinman, of Safe Libraries and the founder of the World Library Association, had this to say about the case:
"Here's my take. People who follow ALA advice and create a local group to say and do what ALA wants get burned in the end, so why expose yourselves to this? ALA's biggest loss was United States v. American Library Association that allowed libraries to use Internet filtering software. ALA sought to allow children unfettered access. ALA lost $1.5M in that fruitless effort."
The court rightly found the plaintiffs had no legislative standing with regard to a violation of their rights of free speech. In fact, the court went so far as to say that the plaintiffs were attempting to regain power through legal means (I would suggest lawfare) rather than political means.
THE ALA STRIKES OUT AGAIN
It is absurd for the American Library Association and their supporters to assert that minor children should be granted unfettered access by public libraries to either the internet or age-inappropriate and often sexually-explicit library books. Citizens are not going to stand for it.
 |
| From: Missouri Library Association |
When groups like U-turn in Education, the Missouri Right to Read Coalition, the Missouri Library Association and others take their cues from the ALA's "Right to Read" and "Library Bill of Rights", they cease to have credibility with most communities. It is simply common sense to protect children from books and materials they are not emotionally ready to process.
Parents and guardians can access whatever materials they want for their children in any number of venues, but they do not have a right to legislate and effectively force access of age-inappropriate books to other people's minor children.
And again, the insistence that providing unsuitable materials to children is a right sounds ludicrous when seen under the light of the many laws restricting minor access to alcohol, pornography, cigarettes and so on.
Common sense is returning, and not a moment too soon.
