ABFFE UPDATE

April 18, 2008 Previously in ABFFE Update Volume 10, Number 4

ABFFE Leads Booksellers in Challenge to Unconstitutional Indiana Law

ABFFE announced last week that it will join other members of Media Coalition in filing a court challenge to a new Indiana law that requires mainstream bookstores and other retailers to register with the government if they sell “sexually explicit materials.” “Sexually explicit” is defined so broadly that the law could apply to bookstores that sell mainstream novels and other artistic works with sexual content, as well as educational books about sexuality and health.
 
H.B. 1042 was signed into law by Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels in late March and will go into effect in July. It requires booksellers to pay a $250 fee to register, and failure to do so is a misdemeanor. Local government officials and zoning boards will be notified of the booksellers’ registration. “It is unconstitutional to force booksellers to register based on the kinds of books they carry,” ABFFE President Chris Finan said. “In America, we don’t let government license bookstores.”

In addition to ABFFE, plaintiffs will include other members of Media Coalition, Indiana booksellers and the ACLU of Indiana. Media Coalition defends the rights of mainstream businesses that produce and distribute books, magazines, movies, videos, recordings and video games that are protected by the First Amendment. Its members include ABFFE, the Association of American Publishers, and the Freedom to Read Foundation.


ABFFE Fights Censorship Laws in Colorado and Arizona

Last week, ABFFE helped defeat a bill in the Arizona legislature that would have authorized crime victims to bring civil suits against producers and distributors of “dangerous” or “obscene” books, magazines, and other works that “caused” the crimes against them. House Bill 2660 was passed by the house, and the senate was expected to approve it. However, the bill was strongly opposed by ABFFE and other media groups and was defeated in the senate judiciary committee.
 
In March, ABFFE opposed a bill in the Colorado legislature that banned the sale to minors of “harmful” books, magazines, and other material. The Tattered Cover Book Store and the Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association (MPIBA) testified against the bill. The bill died in committee last week.


Book Groups Urge Congress to Pass NSL Reform Act

On April 1, the American Booksellers Association joined the American Library Association (ALA), the Association of American Publishers (AAP), and PEN American Center in releasing an open letter to members of Congress, urging them to pass the National Security Letters Reform Act (S. 2088 and H.R. 3189). In a letter published in a Capitol Hill newspaper, Roll Call, the groups urged approval of this legislation which will restore the safeguards for reader privacy that were eliminated by the USA PATRIOT Act. The letter cited two recent reports by the Inspector General of the Justice Department that show that the FBI has violated the law thousands of times since Congress expanded its authority to issue National Security Letters (NSLs), which it can use to seize records from bookstores and libraries without court approval. “The NSL Reform Act gives the FBI the tools it needs to conduct urgent investigations without sacrificing our most basic constitutional principles,” the letter said. Click here to read the Campaign for Reader Privacy letter.

S. 2088 and H.R. 3189 restrict FBI searches to the records of those either suspected of or directly connected to terrorism or espionage. It also limits the time that booksellers and librarians are barred by a gag provision from revealing the receipt of an NSL, which is used to obtain Internet records, or a Section 215 order, which can be used to demand all other records.

S. 2088 was introduced by Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) and is co-sponsored by 11 Senators. H.R. 3189 was introduced by Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and is co-sponsored by 28 Representatives. The House Judiciary Committee conducted hearings on the bill this week; click here to read more. The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold hearings on National Security Letters on April 23.


Free Speech Groups Defend Challenged Books

The Kids’ Right to Read Project (KRRP) reported success in two of three cases this month. A collaboration between ABFFE and the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), KRRP engages booksellers, librarians, teachers, and others in responding to book censorship incidents in schools and libraries. In the past year, it has confronted challenges and bans of more than 40 books in 22 states.

This month, the project opposed challenges to four books: Angels in America by Tony Kushner, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, The Land by Mildred D. Taylor, and The Starplace by Vicki Grove. A community member who objected to sexual, religious, and racial content in the play, Angels in America by Tony Kushner, demanded that it be removed from AP English classes at Deerfield High School in Deerfield, IL. In response, the school offered the play as an “opt-in” assignment. A local organization publicly attacked the play, calling it “pornography.” KRRP sent a letter opposing the challenges that was joined by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), the Association of American Publishers (AAP), the Dramatists Guild, and PEN American Center. The school board voted unanimously to uphold the principal’s decision to keep the play in the curriculum.

The Kite Runner was approved by a school-based media and technology committee at Freedom High School in Burke County, NC, following complaints from a community member who objects to sexual violence and graphic language in the book. The committee also recommended that a policy be created for future reading assignments involving books with “mature content,” requiring the school to send written notification to parents. KRRP mobilized a coalition of six free speech groups and sent a letter opposing the challenges. Click here to read the letter.

A school-based review committee at Turner Elementary School in New Tampa, FL, voted to move The Land by Mildred D. Taylor from the school library and to donate the book to a middle school. The book was reviewed following complaints by one parent who objected to racial language in the book. The parent has promised to file another challenge, also for racial language, to The Starplace by Vicki Grove. KRRP wrote a letter to the St. Petersburg Times and the Hillsborough School board opposing the challenges. Click here to read the letter.
 

Beacon Press Announces Series on Free Speech History

Beacon Press, an independent publisher of serious non-fiction and fiction for over 150 years, announced this week that it will publish a series of books about the history of freedom of speech in the United States. The Beacon series will explore the widespread denial of free speech during the first 150 years of our history; the emergence of an organized fight for free speech in the years after World War I, and the many battles that have been fought over free speech in recent years. “We believe that exploring the history of free speech is essential to ensuring that our understanding and respect for the First Amendment continue to grow,” Beacon Director Helene Atwan said.

The new series will consist of books of approximately 65,000 words and is intended mainly for a popular audience. Potential authors include historians, journalists, and people who work for the growing number of organizations that defend free speech.

The series will be edited by ABFFE President Chris Finan and Brian Halley of Beacon Press. Finan is the author of Beacon’s From the Palmer Raids to the Patriot Act: A History of the Fight for Free Speech in America (2007). Finan will have primary responsibility for soliciting and reviewing proposals. Halley will acquire and edit the books. Authors interested in submitting proposals for the new free speech series should contact Chris Finan at finan@mindspring.com.
 
Beacon has played a distinguished role in the fight for free speech. It published the first full-edition of the Pentagon Papers in 1971, just months after the Nixon administration tried unsuccessfully to block the publication of excerpts by the New York Times and Washington Post. Nixon retaliated by subpoenaing the bank records of the Unitarian Universalist Association, the owner of Beacon Press. Beacon has also published many fiercely independent authors, including Howard Zinn, Paul Robeson, Herbert Marcuse, James Baldwin, Ben Bagdikian, Lani Guinier, Leslie Feinberg, Cornell West, and more recently, Stacy Mitchell.

 

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