Texas Book Review Law ‘Unconstitutionally Compels Speech, is Void for Vagueness, and is an Unconstitutional Prior Restraint’

A federal judge in Texas this week determined provisions of a new state law that would have required book vendors to review and rate books sold to public schools based on sexual content are unconstitutional. 

U.S. District Judge Alan D. Albright on Tuesday issued a 24-page opinion permanently banning Texas from enforcing certain parts of HB 900, referred to as the READER Act, which stands for Restricting Explicit and Adult-Designated Educational Resources. He wrote that while the state has an interest in protecting children “from obscene content in the school setting,” the challenged law “misses the mark on accomplishing its goal and is unconstitutional.”