Judge Robert Pittman ORDERS Llano County to return "all books" to its libraries removed for content

[In It to Win It]

Stephen Paulsen
@stephentpaulsen

NEW: A federal judge has ordered Llano County to return to its libraries "all books" removed for their content and viewpoint.

Library patrons have shown that "content-based restrictions" were likely unconstitutional, he ruled.

https://courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Llano-county-library-books-injunction.pdf

A group had previously complained of "pornographic filth" and "CRT and LGBTQ books" at the libraries.

Among the books that will return to shelves for now: "Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen" by @JazzJennings__

Link to tweet

[Disaffected]

1. This is good news.

I am particularly pleased to see that Larry the Farting Leprechaun is back on the shelves!

[In It to Win It]

2. It's a real page turner

[Maraya1969]

32. Yea I ripped right through that one.

[Disaffected]

34. ...

[momta]

33. I have a challenge for any of the book banners...

If they can go a week without farting, I will consent to them removing the fart books (assuming they're still alive).

[Disaffected]

35. Challenge seconded.

All this reminds me of a little diddy we used to sing as kids:

"Oh, the moon shines bright on Nellie Cartwright,

She couldn't fart right,

Her ass was air-tight."

[ret5hd]

3. "I studied, went to law school,...

advanced my career, became a federal judge…to end up ruling on fart books.”

And we all thank you, your honor.

[orleans]

12. lol. and while i've never been a fan of fart jokes i know, in my heart,

(regardless of my lack of farting sense of humor), that fart books matter too

(and i'm guessing especially to kids)
(although, come to think of it, a nice fart book for men might make the perfect father's day gift.... hummm... that gives me an idea... )

[StClone]

13. Fart books are best read...

...in an elevator if not a library.

[Sneederbunk]

14. Are fart shows still legal?

[meow2u3]

16. As long as you don't take a match to them

Fire hazard.

[yellowcanine]

22. No but booger books and actual farts are still legal.

[soldierant]

28. Ben Franklin would approve of this judge

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fart_Proudly

[crickets]

4. Yes! K&R

[sinkingfeeling]

5. What state is this?

[cannabis_flower]

6. Texas

[sl8]

7. Texas.

I was wondering, too.

[efhmc]

8. The only Llano I know is about 50 miles from me in Texas.

But I doubt it happened here.

[herding cats]

17. It did.

Some amazing citizens there stood up and fought like mad against this.

I, personally, know they had a lot of local blowback but still fought the County Judge, commissioners and several uptight citizens for what they believed to be right.

I'm deeply proud of the 7 citizens there who dared to standup and fight.

[In It to Win It]

18. Good! They definitely got the right judge.

This is the good Judge Pittman of Texas (as opposed to Judge Mark Pittman in the Northern District of Texas). I think he’s one that should be considered for elevation to a circuit court.

[carpetbagger]

9. Texas, about an hour north of me.

Very Trumpy place (he beat Biden 80-20).

[BlueIdaho]

10. Is this a precedent for other states?

So sick of this fascist BS.

[In It to Win It]

11. nope

[soldierant]

29. To be considered a legal precedent

a decision mut be made by an appellate court (or one higher than that.)

But I suppose it might be pointed to as an example It wouldn't be binding, but it couldn't hurt.

[In It to Win It]

30. Right.

It would have to affirmed by an appellate court.

But I suppose it might be pointed to as an example It wouldn't be binding, but it couldn't hurt.

I think that’s one of the most important aspects of District Court judges. Although their decisions don’t create precedent, the ideas they put out into the judicial system is given a chance to be echoed by an appellate panel and by the Supreme Court. These fringe unconventional decisions and interpretations that comes from these right wing Texas district judges then is given a certain legitimacy when it goes to the 5th Circuit where they go on to echo that same fringe interpretation, which is then referenced and cited by some right wing district court judge in Florida (or wherever else) and goes up to a conservative panel in the 11th Circuit and on and on throughout all of the other district and circuit courts.

That’s why I think the Senate should definitively fill those vacancies in the district courts in Texas.

[iluvtennis]

15. Awesome news! n/t

[MagickMuffin]

19. Very unlikely unconstitutional, ya think

I’d wager that it is the very definition of unconstitutional.

[In It to Win It]

20. If there was any judge in Texas I trust to make such a determination

It is Judge Robert Pittman.

There are 2 vacancies and 2 expected vacancies in the District Court that Judge Pittman sits, and I hope they find a way to fill them. If there’s any state that needs level headed judges, it’s Texas.

[Conjuay]

21. It would seem

Jane Bexley is the Methane Queen.

[ancianita]

23. I'd love to get a copy of the Plaintiffs' filing, so it can be distributed across censorship states.

Reading the judgment is great for other state judges, too, since it's pretty much all constitutional citations.

[ancianita]

25. Found it linked on WaPo, a well written filing by law firms out of San Francisco and Austin.

Librarians would be the best researchers of good law firms. Because librarians are badass.

Glad the plaintiffs won.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21746591-llanocomplaint-42522

[Beartracks]

24. So tired of the Republican "argument"...

... that publicly funded libraries carrying books that a few parents find morally objectionable are not being "politically neutral" when they have the book in their collection in the first place, or when they seek to keep the book from being banned.

Typical conservative Republican modus operandi: politicize a thing, and then vehemently claim that those who object are politically motivated.

==========

[ancianita]

26. Washington Post reported on this case, which is where I found the plaintiffs' filing link.

"...“Public libraries are not places of government indoctrination,” the lawsuit reads. “They are not places where the people in power can dictate what their citizens are permitted to read about and learn. When government actors target public library books because they disagree with and intend to suppress the ideas contained within them, it jeopardizes the freedoms of everyone.”

Such lawsuits are expected to proliferate after an unprecedented year of book challenges in school and public libraries by conservative groups largely objecting to LGBTQ authors and those writing about diversity and race, experts have said.

The American Library Association recorded 729 challenges to library materials in 2021 — a record since the group began tracking the data in 2000...."...

Caldwell noted that federal case law in Texas has set a precedent for First Amendment claims. In 2000, a federal court ruled that a vote by the city council in Wichita Falls to allow citizens the right to censor books — resulting in the removal from children’s shelves of two gay-themed books, “Heather Has Two Mommies” and “Daddy’s Roommate” — was unconstitutional.

“Removing books altogether, removing books to a restricted shelf or imposing other restrictions on access may give rise to a First Amendment challenge, while disregarding established reconsideration policies supports a presumption by the court that the board’s motivations in removing the books are unconstitutional,” Caldwell said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/04/25/texas-residents-sue-county-removing-books-firing-librarian/

[In It to Win It]

27. Link to complaint

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21746591-llanocomplaint-42522

[Trueblue Texan]

31. Anyone who bans fart books knows not one thing about...

6-10 year olds! They shouldn't be able to make such calls from such a pedestal of ignorance!