(PartiallyPolitics.com) – On Wednesday, a federal appeals court ruled that the Texas law that bans books with “sexually explicit” content from books and public schools was most likely in violation of the U.S. Constitution. This ruling is partially upholding the previous preliminary injunction that the lower court had issued.
The three-judge appeals panel noted in a unanimous ruling, that the plaintiffs, which include a legal defense fund, authors, publishers, and two Texas bookstores would most likely win in their claim that the Texas law violated the First Amendment.
The Restricting Explicit and Adult-Designated Educational Resources Act (READER) specifically blocks any vendors who do business with Texas public schools, to provide them with any material that includes sexual content for their libraries. They also call for all material that is “sexually explicit” or relevant to be marketed.
U.S. Circuit Judge Don Willett, an appointee of former president Donald Trump, claimed that the question is currently too narrow, and questioned whether the plaintiffs were trying to suggest that READER violated their First Amendment Rights. He added in the unanimous opinion that according to the controlling precedent, it was most likely that the answer to this question was yes.
He further affirmed the district court’s preliminary injunction relating to Commissioner Morath. However, they vacated the other preliminary injunction against Chairs Ellis and Wong. They also denied the motion by the State to issue a state pending the appeal.
Texas has argued that the law is aiming to protect U.S. children and has opposed all the claims made by booksellers. They further pointed out that there would not be “irreparable harm” caused by the law and have fought against the injunction.
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