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Republicans sue to force school district, private bookseller Barnes & Noble to remove two books [1]
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Date: 2022-08-31
A cache of books too dangerous to read. Bottom center: Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe.
The Washington Post reports about two Republicans who are suing Barnes & Noble to compel the private bookseller to withdraw two books from its stores: Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe, and A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas. The original suit also saw the Virginia Beach school system as a defendant, but the suit was amended after the school system took steps that made the suit moot—that is, in essence, the school system complied.
As the article notes, the American Library Association found that Gender Queer was the most challenged book of 2021. PEN America found the same. A Court of Mist and Fury, an award-winning young adult fantasy novel, appears to be targeted because of its scenes “filled with sex, gore magic” (per the description provided by Common Sense Media).
The reporting is straightforward:
A Virginia judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit brought by two Republicans that sought to limit how bookstores and public school libraries could distribute two books to minors, closing — at least temporarily — an unusual commercial strategy in what conservatives say is a campaign to protect students from age-inappropriate literature. The suit, filed in Virginia Beach Circuit Court by Del. Tim Anderson (R-Virginia Beach) and congressional candidate Tommy Altman, aimed to prevent the Virginia Beach school system and locations of the private bookseller Barnes & Noble from selling the books to children without first obtaining parental consent.
Straightforward, but I question the framing of the issue. Because to me it seems that two Republican instruments of the state are using legal pressure to coerce a school system and a private business to comply with their demands.
They want to force the Virginia Beach school system and Barnes & Noble to curtail legitimate activity. Why isn’t that the frame?
The lawsuit was dismissed due to the law undergirding the action to be unconstitutional prima facie.
In her order dismissing the lawsuit, Judge Pamela Baskervill concluded that part of Virginia’s state law dealing with obscenity is unconstitutional. [...] In her ruling, Baskervill said the law violates the First Amendment by enabling governmental censorship and by assuming that anyone distributing an obscene book must be consciously deciding to break the law, when in fact these people might “have no knowledge that a book may be considered obscene.” The law “imposes a presumption of scienter,” or knowledge that one’s actions are wrong, Baskervill wrote. In a similar line of reasoning, Baskervill concluded that the law violates the due process clause of the constitution “by authorizing judgment without notice to affected parties.” “Virginia Code § 18.2-384 is unconstitutional on its face,” Baskervill wrote in her final order in the case. Thus, the case itself is no longer valid and deserves dismissal, she wrote.
But let’s consider the facts on the ground here. Two Republicans, one currently in office and one who just this year lost his primary bid, are using the power of the court to compel compliance from a private business (who is currently free to continue offering the title) and a school system, presumably one already within their spheres of influence as lawmakers (this last bit is true at least of Mr. Anderson).
The Virginia Beach School System was dropped as a defendant. Action against it became moot after the school system put in place efforts to block the book from student access.
At least one of the two texts is no longer available in Virginia Beach City Public Schools, however. Around the same time the lawsuit was winding its way through the courts in May, the school board decided to remove all copies of “Gender Queer” from its libraries due to the book’s sexual content. On Tuesday before the judge’s final ruling, Anderson and Altman withdrew part of their suit that had targeted the school system, citing the fact that the district had already nixed students’ access to “Gender Queer.”
This lawsuit was launched when Tim Anderson was esconsced in office and Tommy Altman was in the midst of running for a potential seat. They were effectively using their influence as political figures to boost the visibility of this suit and to enhance the possibility of their legislative successes. This did not pan out for Mr. Altman—not yet, anyway; it may turn out that he may parley this into more influence and GOP access later. He has to cut his losses. Mr. Anderson, however, is safe in his seat until 2024. He had little to lose by joining Mr. Altman in seeking this suit, and much to gain in terms of cultivating his voter base.
Since he’s been in office, much of Mr. Anderson’s time, when not taking symbolic or ceremonial votes like those honoring local personalities, has been spent pursuing extreme right-wing positions. The public school system seems to be a preferred target for Mr. Anderson:
The former effort failed; the latter passed the legislature.
As for this ruling, it could still be taken up by a higher court:
What happens next depends whether Altman and Anderson decide to appeal. … [T]he case could eventually rise to the Virginia Supreme Court — and beyond that to the Supreme Court. For now, Baskervill’s ruling, so long as it continues unchallenged, means that the specific section of Virginia’s obscenity law she deemed unconstitutional is no longer valid in the particular slice of the state under the jurisdiction of the Virginia Beach City Circuit Court, Trexler said. And it means that the two books can be sold freely by private bookseller Barnes & Noble.
Meanwhile, the students of the Virginia Beach Schools have lost access to Gender Queer and perhaps in the future other titles. The school system decided to curb the intellectual freedoms and curiosity of their students of its own accord, before any decision was reached.
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