DeSantis: State Can Remove School Library Books They Don't Like

Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration is doubling down on its position that books can be removed from school libraries solely because the government disagrees with them. Via the Herald-Tribune:

"(We) maintain the position that the removal of material from public school libraries is government speech for which it has the complete discretion and freedom to speak through the removal of speech with which it disapproves," wrote attorneys for various Gov. Ron DeSantis education appointees in a Thursday court filing.

As revealed by the USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida, the state has made the same argument over the last year to counter lawsuits filed over the local school district removals of books with LGBTQ themes.

[...] The federal lawsuit prompting the latest government speech assertion was filed last month by a trio of public school student mothers who accuse Florida's top education officials of discriminating against them and others opposed to the surge of book removals seen across the state.

In trying to get that lawsuit thrown out, Florida's attorneys said that since removals are protected government speech, the public can't experience "harm or concrete injury" over those removals and therefore can't sue.

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