Publishers, a library and others sue over Idaho’s law restricting youth access to ‘harmful’ books

BOISE, Idaho — Several large book publishers, a tiny public library and others are suing Idaho officials over a law that forces libraries to keep some books in an adults-only section if community members believe they are “harmful to minors.” The Donnelly Library, Penguin Random House and the others suing say the law is overly vague and violates the First Amendment rights of students, librarians and other residents by forcing libraries to sequester literary classics like “Slaughterhouse-Five” and “A Clockwork Orange.” It’s the second such lawsuit filed in Idaho. Idaho now demands that public schools and public libraries either sequester these books — and others like them — away from young people or face the risk of challenge, litigation, and statutory damages for allowing these classic and valuable books to be accessed by minors.” A spokesman for Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, declined to comment because the case is pending. Idaho’s law took effect last year, requiring schools and public libraries to move material deemed “harmful to minors” to an adults-only section or face lawsuits. Christie Nichols, a librarian in the state’s largest school district and one of the plaintiffs in the case, said she was instructed to pull roughly 30 books from her library at Rocky Mountain High School in Meridian and send them back to the West Ada School District headquarters, “even though she believes these books have serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for her students.” That’s because the books were on a list of about 60 the district had deemed problematic.