The Authors Guild, alongside major publishers and renowned authors, has taken a significant step forward in our legal challenge against Florida’s controversial book removal law. On March 4, 2025, our legal team filed a motion for summary judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, arguing that the state’s book ban provisions are so clearly unconstitutional that the court should rule in our favor without proceeding to a full trial. 

A Powerful Coalition for Intellectual Freedom 

The lawsuit brings together a powerful coalition fighting for intellectual freedom, including publishers Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster; authors Julia Alvarez, Laurie Halse Anderson, John Green, Jodi Picoult, and Angie Thomas; the Authors Guild; and students and parents from affected Florida school districts. 

Our motion challenges Section 1006.28 of Florida law, which our filing describes as “an unprecedented assault on Florida school libraries” that has led to the removal of hundreds of books. The law targets two categories of content: any material that describes sexual conduct and any “pornographic” content, without clearly defining either term. 

Literary Classics Under Attack 

As stated in our filing, these vague and overly broad provisions have resulted in the removal of works that have significant literary and educational value, including Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, Richard Wright’s Native Son, Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange, Toni Morrison’s Beloved, and Alice Walker’s The Color Purple. 

The legal arguments in our motion are compelling. We demonstrate that the law’s constitutional flaws far outweigh any legitimate applications, as it prohibits access to books based on isolated passages while ignoring their overall value. The motion argues that Florida’s approach disregards established Supreme Court standards for evaluating content, which require considering works as a whole. 

A One-Size-Fits-All Approach with Harsh Consequences 

One of the most problematic aspects of the law is its failure to account for student age and maturity, applying identical standards to books accessible to high school seniors and elementary school students alike. Meanwhile, educators face severe penalties for non-compliance, including potential loss of teaching licenses and monetary fines, creating what amounts to a climate of fear in schools. 

Our motion explains how this law harms multiple stakeholders: students lose their right to access information, authors and publishers face unwarranted restrictions on their creative expression, and librarians are prevented from using their professional judgment to curate age-appropriate collections. 

Standing Up for the Right to Read 

Importantly, our filing notes that Florida already had mechanisms allowing parents to control their own children’s access to library materials, making this sweeping ban an unnecessary restriction that actually limits parental choice rather than enhancing it. 

The outcome of this case will have profound implications for intellectual freedom across the country. A favorable ruling would establish an important precedent against similar restrictive laws being considered in other states. The Authors Guild remains steadfast in our commitment to defending the right to read and the right to write.