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By Joshua Rhett Miller
Senior Reporter
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A three-judge panel for the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that an Arkansas law restricting access to some "harmful" library material by minors can take effect three years after a state judge blocked sections of the law due to First Amendment concerns.
Anyone who furnishes a "harmful item to a minor," including obscene materials, could be charged under the law with a misdemeanor punishable by jail time or fines up to $10,000, news station KNWA reported.
"I applaud the Eighth Circuit’s decision and its careful review of this case," Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, a Republican, said in a statement following the reversal. "The court’s ruling allows Arkansas to move forward in enforcing a law that protects children from obscene materials while increasing accountability for public-library curation decisions."
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Griffin said the decision paves the way for enforcement of key provisions of Act 372 and reversed a lower court ruling in Fayetteville Public Library v. Crawford County. Legislators had passed the law to address "legitimate concerns" about access to obscene materials by children.
"The Eighth Circuit correctly concluded that plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge one provision of the law and that another provision is neither unconstitutionally overbroad under the First Amendment nor unconstitutionally vague under the due process clause," Griffin said.
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Thursday's ruling comes three years after Chief Judge Timothy L. Brooks for the Western District of Arkansas issued an injunction against the law after multiple parents, public libraries and bookstores sued in federal court, KNWA reported.
In the 24-page ruling, the three-judge panel determined Brooks erred in holding that Act 372 had been "unconstitutionally vague" and likely to violate the First Amendment. The ruling also noted how bookstores and libraries could comply with the law by creating "strict adult-only areas" within libraries and bookstores.
"But courts cannot conjure up their own hypotheticals en route to striking down laws as overbroad," the ruling states.
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The law had been challenged by libraries, bookstores and advocacy groups, including the Central Arkansas Library System, according to the Arkansas Times. An attorney for the plaintiffs characterized Thursday's ruling as troubling.
"Libraries and bookstores should be places where people can freely explore ideas — not where booksellers and librarians face criminal liability for selling, checking out, or even just shelving constitutionally protected books,” attorney John Adams told the outlet. "The freedom to read is fundamental to a free society and has always been protected by the First Amendment. We remain committed to defending that principle. We are reviewing the court’s opinion carefully and evaluating all available legal options, including further review by the courts."
The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas also denounced Thursday's ruling.
"Access to ideas and information is fundamental to a free society," executive director Holly Dickson told Newsweek in a statement. "Libraries and bookstores exist so people can encounter new perspectives, challenge assumptions, and make up their own minds — not so the government can decide which thoughts are acceptable. We will continue fighting attempts to censor books and restrict the freedom to read."
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Jason Lemon and Sam Wilson.
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