A federal judge has permanently blocked key provisions of an Arkansas law that criminalized providing perceived harmful books to minors and established a citizen-driven challenge process for removing books deemed inappropriate from public libraries.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks of the Western District of Arkansas ruled on Dec. 23 that the provisions in question—Sections 1 and 5 of Arkansas Act 372—are overly broad and vague, in violation of constitutional protections of free speech. Brooks’s decision to permanently block the two provisions follows his earlier ruling that paused it temporarily, pending litigation.
