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The U.S. Supreme Court has opted not to review a case regarding the removal of 17 books from public libraries in a small Central Texas county, including titles that address themes of race and gender.
By declining to hear the case, the Supreme Court has upheld a ruling from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which concluded that the First Amendment does not guarantee a right to access information. This development represents a significant setback for a group of seven residents from Llano County who have been fighting against what they describe as a systematic effort to censor literature by the county government, coinciding with a broader trend of book bans across Texas.
Representatives for both the library patrons and the county have not responded to requests for comments.
PEN America, a nonprofit organization dedicated to monitoring book bans nationwide and which submitted a brief in support of the residents, criticized the Supreme Court’s decision in a recent statement.
“Upholding the Fifth Circuit’s decision undermines fundamental principles of free speech and enables state and local authorities to impose ideological control over citizens without accountability,” remarked Elly Brinkley, attorney for the organization’s U.S. Free Expression Programs. “The government should not dictate what people can or cannot read.”
Bob Corn-Revere, chief counsel for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, expressed disappointment that the Supreme Court missed an opportunity to clarify the constitutional standing of public libraries.
“By not addressing this issue, we now face a period of ambiguity as different appellate courts across the country adopt varying standards regarding the freedom to read,” he noted.
The legal dispute began in 2022 when seven residents filed a federal lawsuit against the judge of Llano County and other officials, claiming they had removed multiple books from library shelves, halted new book acquisitions, and replaced the library board with members supportive of book bans.
Some of the titles that were removed corresponded with a list of 850 books deemed objectionable by former state Representative Matt Krause. Notable among the removed works are Jazz Jennings’ “Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen” and Susan Campbell Bartoletti’s “They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group.”
In a preliminary injunction issued in 2023, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman, appointed by Obama, ordered the reinstatement of the removed library books.
However, after an appeal, most of the full 5th Circuit court overturned the district court’s decision in May. Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan, appointed by Trump, stated in the majority opinion that the right to information could not be utilized to challenge a public library’s judgment regarding which books to include or exclude. He also characterized the library’s collection choices as a form of government expression.
“If a dissatisfied patron cannot find a book in the library, they can order it online, purchase it from a bookstore, or borrow it from a friend,” wrote Duncan.
“What Llano County has done is consistent with what libraries have practiced for two centuries: making decisions about the books they wish to include in their collections. This is the essence of a library — to evaluate which books are valuable to read and which ideas deserve a place on the shelves. If you doubt that, ask the librarian for directions to the Holocaust Denial Section during your next library visit.”
Seven out of the 17 judges dissented, with Judge Stephen Higginson, an Obama appointee, criticizing the majority’s arguments as “disturbingly flippant and legally unsound.”
“I would not have our court ‘join the book burners,’ so I dissent,” Higginson declared.
The Supreme Court did not provide any rationale for its decision to reject the residents’ petition.
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Support Independent Texas News. Become a member today. Your support is vital for independent Texas journalism. Our organization delivers fact-based reporting for Texans, and our work is made possible through contributions from our community of members. Join us in our mission to provide you and others with comprehensive news and information. Can we count on your support for our nonprofit newsroom with a donation of any amount?
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Alex Nguyen is a general assignment reporter with a focus on criminal justice. Before joining the newsroom in 2025, she was a breaking news reporter at The Dallas Morning News. She has previously worked in various reporting roles.
