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Judge Blocks Arkansas Law Criminalizing Librarians, Stores Who Provide 'Obscene Material' to Minors

District Judge Timothy L. Brooks issued a preliminary injunction on July 29 that temporarily blocked Arkansas Act 372, which would allow librarians and booksellers to be criminally charged for providing "obscene materials" available to minors, from taking effect.

Act 372 was slated to go into effect on Tuesday, August 1 after being signed into law by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders in March. The act seeks to prohibit the exhibition of "obscene material" deemed "harmful to minors," to criminalize librarians and retails who make available such material to minors, and allowing parents or guardians to access the minors' library records.

A coalition of librarians, booksellers, retailers, and other organizations (including the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund) formed on June 2 and filed a lawsuit against the law. They challenged two sections: one that allows criminal prosecution and up to one year in prison to those who "knowingly" provide a minor with harmful material; and the section that allows citizens to challenge a library on the appropriateness of material currently on display, ask the library to move the material to an area inaccesible to minors, or appeal to a local city council or quorum court if the library declines to move materials upon request. Both sections, the coalition said, would necessitate libraries and retailers to provide a space that was inaccessible to minors. They would force some to ban all minors from entry into the store or library entirely, or remove all possibly offending material beforehand.

Judge Brooks' injunction noted that the law has "no clarity on what affirmative steps a bookseller or librarian must take to avoid a violation," and also commented on the breadth and vagueness of the law, noting that it does not distinguish between material that is harmful to the youngest minors and material for older minors. He added that it can be applied to a wide swath of literature. He provided the example of a "romance novel, which contains descriptions of sex," the display of which could open the library to criminal penalties, even though minors were unlikely to read it.

Sources: Associated Press, ICv2 (Brigid Alverson)