A federal judge has permanently blocked key provisions of an Arkansas law that criminalized providing perceived harmful books to minors and established a citizen-driven challenge process for removing books deemed inappropriate from public libraries.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks of the Western District of Arkansas ruled on Dec. 23 that the provisions in question—Sections 1 and 5 of Arkansas Act 372—are overly broad and vague, in violation of constitutional protections of free speech. Brooks’s decision to permanently block the two provisions follows his earlier ruling that paused it temporarily, pending litigation.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed Act 372 into law in March 2023, prompting a legal challenge by a coalition of groups who argued that the law would have a chilling effect on free speech and limit access to diverse materials….