Intellectual Freedom, Censorship, and Book Bans

Book Bans: Examining How Censorship Limits Liberty and Literature | United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. (2023). Retrieved October 3, 2025, from https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/committee-activity/hearings/book-bans-examining-how-censorship-limits-liberty-and-literature

Catherine J Ross. (2024). Are “book bans” unconstitutional?: Reflections on public school libraries and the limits of law. Stanford Law Review, 76(Symposium), 1675–1724.

Guilfoil, K. (2024). Bills targeting book bans raise concerns about the penalties libraries could face. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/bills-targeting-book-bans-raise-concerns-penalties-libraries-face-rcna143635

Kile, K. (2024). DISRUPTING THE WORK OF SCHOOL COUNSELORS: An Unintended Consequence of Book Bans-When Educators, Communities, and Parents Can’t Agree on What Books Are Allowed in Public Schools, School Counseling Suffers. American Educational History Journal, 51(1–2), 201.

Lipinski, T. (2022). Materials Challenges in the Library: What Does the Law Say? American Libraries Magazine. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2022/08/05/materials-challenges-in-the-library-what-does-the-law-say/

• Counts v. Cedarville School District, 295 F.Supp.2d 996 (W.D. Ark. 2003)

  The Cedarville School District in Arkansas required students to obtain parental permission to check out Harry Potter books from the school library due to concerns about the books’ themes of witchcraft and wizardry. A federal court ruled that the school’s restriction violated students’ First Amendment rights, emphasizing that access to information is a protected right, and that the school board’s actions were not justified by educational concerns.

• Sund v. City of Wichita Falls, Texas, 121 F. Supp. 2d 530 (N.D. Texas, 2000)

  This case involved a dispute over the placement of two children’s books, Heather Has Two Mommies and Daddy’s Roommate, in the children’s section of the public library in Wichita Falls, Texas. The City Council passed a resolution allowing the removal of any children’s book that 300 library cardholders petitioned to have moved to the adult section. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas held that the resolution violated the First Amendment rights of library patrons. The court ruled that the City could not remove or relocate books from the children’s section of the library based solely on the content of those books. The ruling emphasized the importance of free access to information in public libraries.

• Case v. Unified School District No. 233, 908 F. Supp. 864 (D. Kan. 1995)

  This case concerned the removal of Annie on My Mind, a book about a lesbian relationship, from the Olathe, Kansas, school district’s high school libraries. The book’s removal was challenged as a violation of the First Amendment. The U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas ruled that the school district’s decision to remove the book violated the First Amendment rights of students. The court found that the removal was motivated by the school board’s disagreement with the book’s content rather than any legitimate educational concerns. The book was ordered to be returned to the school libraries.

• Mozert v. Hawkins Cnty. Bd. of Educ., 827 F.2d 1058 (6th Cir. 1987)

  In this case, a group of parents in Tennessee sued the Hawkins County Board of Education, claiming that the required reading of certain textbooks violated their religious beliefs. The textbooks in question included works that the parents argued promoted secular humanism and conflicted with their Christian faith. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the parents, holding that the use of the textbooks did not violate the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause, as the books did not require students to accept the beliefs presented.

• Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District No. 26 v. Pico, 457 U.S. 853 (1982)

  This landmark Supreme Court case addressed whether a school board could remove books from a school library simply because it disagreed with the content. The Island Trees School District in New York removed several books, including Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut and The Best Short Stories by Negro Writers by Langston Hughes, arguing that they were “anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, and just plain filthy. The Supreme Court held that the First Amendment limits the ability of school boards to remove books from libraries, emphasizing that students have a right to access diverse ideas and that school boards cannot remove books simply because they dislike the ideas contained in them.

• Minarcini v. Strongsville (Ohio) City School District, 541 F.2d 577 (6th Cir. 1976)

  This case involved the Strongsville City School District in Ohio, which removed Catch-22 by Joseph Heller and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut from the high school library. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that removing books from a school library violated students’ First Amendment rights, as the school board’s decision was motivated by disagreement with the ideas expressed in the books rather than educational appropriateness.

• Todd v. Rochester Community Schools, 41 Mich. App. 320 (1972)

  In this case, a parent challenged the inclusion of Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut in the curriculum of Rochester Community Schools in Michigan, arguing that the book was obscene and inappropriate for students. The Michigan Court of Appeals upheld the school district’s decision to include the book in the curriculum. The court found that Slaughterhouse-Five had significant literary merit and was not obscene. The court emphasized the importance of academic freedom and the discretion of educators in selecting educational materials.

• Tinker v. Des Moines Indep. Community Sch. Dist., 393 U.S. 503 (1969)

  Although not directly a banned book case, this landmark Supreme Court decision set a significant precedent for student free speech rights in schools. Students were suspended for wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam War. The Supreme Court ruled that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” This case has been cited in subsequent cases involving censorship and banned books in schools.

• Rosenberg v. Bd. of Ed. of City of New York, 92 N.Y.S.2d 344 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1949)

  This case involved a dispute over the banning of Howard Fast’s novel Citizen Tom Paine from a high school in New York. The book was banned by the Board of Education due to its alleged anti-American sentiments. The New York Supreme Court (a trial-level court in New York) ruled that the Board of Education had acted within its authority in banning the book. The court held that the Board had the discretion to determine the appropriateness of materials for school use and that the decision to ban the book was not unconstitutional.

• Evans v. Selma Union High School District, 193 Cal. 54 (1924)

  In this early case, a parent challenged the inclusion of King James Bible in the library of Selma Union High School in California, arguing that its presence in the public school library violated the state constitution’s prohibition against religious instruction in public schools. The California Supreme Court held that the mere presence of the Bible in the school library did not violate the state constitution. The court reasoned that the Bible was not being used for religious instruction but was available as a reference work, and its presence did not constitute an endorsement of religion. The Bible was allowed to remain in the school library.

Descriptions from: University of San Diego Legal Research Center (2025). Guides: The Law and Policy of Book Bans: Cases and Legislation. Retrieved October 3, 2025, from https://lawlibguides.sandiego.edu/c.php?g=1421168&p=10542274