The last five years have seen an unprecedented rise in book bans in public libraries and schools, but two slow-moving court cases have overturned bans in Texas and at schools serving students in military families.
In July 2023, Texas’ GOP-dominated legislature passed House Bill 900, which mandated public schools and retail bookstores develop standards to restrict access to sexually explicit material. Bookstores and free speech groups immediately filed a lawsuit and a judge issued a preliminary injunction that blocked the law from going into effect.
The law would have required bookstores to evaluate each title according to a 16-step process that left them vulnerable to prosecution if the process was not followed correctly.
That lawsuit reached its conclusion Oct, 21 when a district judge granted summary judgment and ordered a permanent injunction against the law, saying it “compels speech, is void for vagueness and is an unconstitutional prior restraint.”
That same day, another book ban was overturned by a court ruling.
That same day, another book ban was overturned by a court ruling, this one concerning books in schools serving students in military families following a series of executive orders from President Donald Trump calling for removal of books on “gender ideology extremism” and Critical Race Theory.
Plaintiffs claimed their children, who attend Department of Defense Education Activity schools in Quantico, Va., Fort Campbell, Ky., Italy and Japan, claimed they violated their First Amendment rights and demanded the books and curriculum materials be returned.
“The evidence before this court overwhelmingly suggests that the implementation of the book removal process has been inconsistent and opaque,” the judge ruled.
The case does nothing to change book bans at U.S. military academies. For example, the Nimitz Library at the U.S. Naval Academy has banned 381 books.
Groups that monitor book bans agree the last five years have seen a dramatic increase in bans. The American Library Association’s running tally for the past decade shows a significant jump in 2021, a time when many students were at home due to COVID shutdowns and when groups like Moms for Liberty promoted book bans.
“The reports from librarians and educators in the field make it clear that the organized campaigns to ban books aren’t over, and that we must all stand together to preserve our right to choose what we read,” said an ALA spokesperson.
Here is ALA’s tally of bans over the last 10 years:
- 2024: 5,813
- 2023: 9,021
- 2022: 6,863
- 2021: 3,916
- 2020: 278
- 2019: 334
- 2018: 258
- 2017: 304
- 2016: 241
- 2015: 233
While ALA saw a downturn in bans last year, PEN America saw a rise in 2024 when “6,870 book bans were enacted during the 2024-25 school year, across 23 states and 87 public school districts.”
PEN said among the top 10 books for bans were A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess; Sold by Patricia McCormick, the story of a 13-year-old girl in Nepal who is sold into prostitution; and Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, by Gregory Maguire, a prequel to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz that spawned a top-grossing and Tony Award-winning Broadway musical.
“The book bans that have accumulated in the past four years are unprecedented and undeniable,” said PEN, which said bans have become “normalized.”
“Never before in the life of any living American have so many books been systematically removed from school libraries across the country. Never before have so many states passed laws or regulations to facilitate the banning of books, including bans on specific titles statewide. Never before have so many politicians sought to bully school leaders into censoring according to their ideological preferences, even threatening public funding to exact compliance. Never before has access to so many stories been stolen from so many children.”
Among the book banners, Moms for Liberty has portrayed itself as a grassroots organization, but it has received significant funding from various conservative groups, including the Heritage Foundation, the think tank behind the Project 2025 blueprint for the second Trump administration. Heritage also awarded Moms for Liberty its Salvatori Prize for American Citizenship. And in January, Moms for Liberty founder Tiffany Justice joined Heritage as a visiting fellow in parental rights.