Iowa civil rights organizations are trying again to block a state law that bars certain books from school libraries. (Photo by Max McCoy/Kansas Reflector)
Lambda Legal and American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa have filed a new request for the courts to block Iowa’s law that bars certain books from school libraries.
The two organizations are again challenging Senate File 496, the 2023 Iowa law that prohibits school libraries from having books containing sexually explicit material and limits instruction and materials involving gender and sexuality for K-6 students.
The organizations also filed suit against the law last year on behalf of Iowa Safe Schools and several other plaintiffs, calling it a “don’t say LGBTQ+” law and book banning measure. The law also requires schools to inform parents or guardians if a student requests the use of a different name or pronouns than what they were assigned at birth.
In January 2024, U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Locher blocked the law from enforcement. But that injunction was lifted in August, when a three-person panel of federal appeals court judges ruled that the previous decision was made using a “flawed analysis of the law.”
The new court filing made Friday requests that the law be once again blocked from enforcement through a new, separate preliminary injunction. The basis for the renewed request cites a new U.S. Supreme Court case, Moody v. Netchoice, challenging the law using the “overbreadth doctrine.” This doctrine is a tool for courts to weigh whether a law is ambiguously written in a way that could restrict both protected and non-protected speech.
Thomas Story, a staff attorney for the ACLU of Iowa, said the new case seeks to “establish that these laws have a massive scope that covers many actors doing many different things, and that these provisions are unconstitutional in substantially greater number of those applications than any potential constitutional application of that law.”
According to an analysis from the Des Moines Register, more than 1,000 books have been taken off of school shelves due to the law. However, there is ambiguity about whether some of the pulled books could remain at schools. Iowa Department of Education did not grant requests from educators in 2023 to clarify which materials would be considered “age-appropriate” under the law, saying instead the department would address allegations of noncompliance on a case-by-case basis.
School have criticized this approach, saying the lack of information and clear guidelines on how to implement the law has led to school districts removing books out of fears of breaking the law, potentially limiting students’ access to materials that are not explicitly prohibited.
Classic literature including “Slaughterhouse Five” by Kurt Vonnegut and “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee have been removed from some Iowa school districts, in addition to a large number of books related to LGBTQ+ issues and race, like “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe, “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson and “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie.
There were also changes made to the plaintiffs as part of the new injunction request. Two Iowa teachers affected by the bans were added to the lawsuit, while two students — one who graduated from high school, and another who transferred to a private school, left the case as they were no longer impacted by the law. Iowa Safe Schools remains a plaintiff in the case.
Dan Gutmann, a Des Moines 4th grade teacher, said he joined the lawsuit because he was told by school administrators that he could not mention his husband and family in the presence of students due to the law.
“This was the hammer coming down on me,” Gutmann said. “All LGBTQ+ educators fear that we would be forced to choose between leaving our calling or returning to the closet. I didn’t have to wonder anymore how this would look, sound and feel to be told mention of my family is forbidden by law from our schools.”
The request for a renewed preliminary injunction will be taken up in U.S. District Court, where the previous injunction was granted. Attorneys said there have not yet been discussions on scheduled hearings and arguments for the new action, but that the latest filing represents a new chapter in efforts to overturn the law.
“These filings mark the beginning of the next stage in this lawsuit,” Story said. “(The law) continues to threaten the safety and the rights of LGBTQ+ students, and erode the trust between them and their teachers. Until it is blocked again, this law will suppress the efforts of Iowa Safe Schools and its partners in education to secure an inclusive environment for all of Iowa’s public school students.”