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sarah huckabee sanders
Judge Strikes Down Unconstitutional Parts of Arkansas Law Targeting Librarians
"The court has safeguarded the right of every Arkansan to access ideas and information without fear of censorship or prosecution," said the ACLU of Arkansas legal director.
Dec 24, 2024
In a blow to right-wing efforts to ban books and criminalize librarians, a federal judge on Monday struck down key provisions of an Arkansas law as unconstitutional—though the fight is far from over, with the Republican state attorney general planning to appeal.
Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed Act 372 in March 2023. A few months later, U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks temporarily blocked implementation of Sections 1 and 5 of the law—and on Monday, he ruled against them in a 37-page order.
Section 1 threatened Arkansas librarians and booksellers with up to a year in jail for providing minors with access to "harmful" materials. Brooks wrote that "if the General Assembly's purpose in passing Section 1 was to protect younger minors from accessing inappropriate sexual content in libraries and bookstores, the law will only achieve that end at the expense of everyone else's First Amendment rights."
"The law deputizes librarians and booksellers as the agents of censorship; when motivated by the fear of jail time, it is likely they will shelve only books fit for young children and segregate or discard the rest. For these reasons, Section 1 is unconstitutionally overbroad," added the judge, who also found the provision "unconstitutionally vague."
Section 5 created a process for challenging books in public libraries that critics called burdensome. Brooks found the provision unconstitutional because it is problematically vague and "unnecessarily imposes content-based restrictions on protected speech."
The state's Republican leaders plan to keep pushing for the law. Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said in a statement to The Associated Press that "I respect the court's ruling and will appeal," and Huckabee Sanders vowed to work with him on that effort.
"This victory over totalitarianism is a testament to the courage of librarians, booksellers, and readers who refused to bow to intimidation."
Meanwhile, the broad coalition that took on Act 372—including booksellers, librarians, patrons, and professional associations—celebrated their latest legal victory, which comes as right-wing policymakers in other states work to force through similar policies.
"This was an attempt to 'thought police,' and this victory over totalitarianism is a testament to the courage of librarians, booksellers, and readers who refused to bow to intimidation," ACLU of Arkansas executive director Holly Dickson said in a statement. "Arkansans deserve a state where intellectual freedom thrives, and this ruling ensures that libraries remain sanctuaries for learning and exchange of ideas and information."
John Williams, the group's legal director, declared that "this ruling reaffirms what we have said all along—Act 372 is a dangerous and unconstitutional attack on free expression."
"Our libraries and bookstores are critical spaces for learning, exploration, and connection," Williams added. "By striking down these provisions, the court has safeguarded the right of every Arkansan to access ideas and information without fear of censorship or prosecution."
Democracy Forward also represented some members of the coalition battling the law, including the Arkansas Library Association.
"Laws like Arkansas' that seek to threaten librarians and booksellers with jail simply for doing their job are dangerous for people, communities, and our democracy," said Democracy Forward president and CEO Skye Perryman in a statement. "Our team is honored to represent librarians in Arkansas to stop this attempt to impede the freedom to read and we will meet further attempts in Arkansas and elsewhere with legal challenge."
Leaders of the American Booksellers Association, Association of American Publishers, Authors Guild, Freedom to Read Foundation, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, WordsWorth Books, Pearl's Books, and WordsWorth Books said in a joint statement that "together with librarians, authors, publishers, booksellers, and readers everywhere, we applaud the court's carefully crafted decision upholding the constitutional right to access books."
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Wyden Says GOP Medicaid Purge Puts 'Politics Before Children's Health'
New government data indicates that just nine Republican-led states are responsible for 60% of Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program disenrollments since April.
Dec 19, 2023
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden ripped GOP governors on Monday for endangering the well-being of kids in their states for political purposes as they gut their Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program rolls at an alarming clip, sparking pushback from the Biden administration and healthcare advocates.
"Unfortunately, it's clear that too many Republican governors have chosen to put politics before children's health," Wyden (D-Ore.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released new data showing that a small handful of GOP-led states account for the majority of Medicaid and CHIP disenrollments since April.
That month, the federal government began allowing states to resume eligibility checks and disenrollments that were paused during the Covid-19 pandemic. The health policy nonprofit KFF has estimated based on available data that 71% of those kicked off Medicaid across the U.S. since April have lost coverage for procedural reasons, such as a paperwork error.
Wyden said it's "encouraging" that HHS is giving governors "the opportunity to do right by the families they cover" and pledged to work with President Joe Biden's administration to "ensure everything possible is done to protect coverage for families walking an economic tightrope."
According to the HHS analysis, nine Republican-led states are responsible for roughly 60% of Medicaid and CHIP disenrollments this year: Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Montana, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Dakota, and Texas. Additionally, HHS said the 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act "have disenrolled more children than those that have expanded combined."
"States must take bold action to prevent a large increase in their uninsured child population. Three million losing Medicaid and counting is a terrible way to ring in the new year."
In letters to the nine states' GOP governors, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra urged them to "ensure that no child in your state who still meets eligibility criteria for Medicaid or CHIP loses their health coverage due to 'red tape' or other avoidable reasons as all states 'unwind' from the Medicaid continuous enrollment provision that was in place during much of the Covid-19 public health emergency."
"HHS takes its oversight and monitoring role during the renewals process extremely seriously," Becerra added, "and will not hesitate to take action to ensure states' compliance with federal Medicaid requirements."
Becerra suggested a few strategies aimed at improving the states' often byzantine renewal processes, including boosting auto-renewals and engaging in more active outreach efforts to make sure families know how to keep their coverage.
At least one state leader, Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas, signaled she has no intention of acting on Becerra's recommendations.
"The failing Biden admin sent letters to GOP-led states in a politically motivated PR stunt, accusing us of restricting Medicaid access. That's false," Sanders, who served as former President Donald Trump's press secretary, wrote on social media in response to Becerra's letter. "Arkansas is in compliance with state and federal law, while Biden plays politics at Christmas."
Arkansas has worked aggressively to curb its Medicaid rolls this year, stripping more than 427,000 people of coverage in just six months. In September alone, more than 21,000 people were removed from the program for not returning their enrollment paperwork, according to state data.
The nationwide Medicaid purge that began in April has been described as "the largest concentration of health insurance loss in American history," and both Republican governors and the Biden administration have faced criticism for failing to prevent disaster.
Georgetown University's Center for Children and Families (CCF) estimates that, as of Monday, more than 3 million children have been disenrolled from Medicaid since eligibility checks resumed in the spring.
"In 2022, 3.9 million children were uninsured, so even if the majority of children losing Medicaid have other sources of coverage, the number of uninsured children is rising sharply," CCF executive director Joan Alker wrote in a blog post on Monday. "States must take bold action to prevent a large increase in their uninsured child population. Three million losing Medicaid and counting is a terrible way to ring in the new year."
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Arkansas Schools Will Teach AP African American Studies, Defying GOP Law
Educators will teach the course despite the fact that the law also weakens rules protecting them against unjust dismissals.
Aug 17, 2023
Despite a threat this week by the Arkansas Department of Education that it would not allow students to receive credit for Advanced Placement African American Studies, every public high school in Arkansas that previously offered the course announced that it will remain on their schedules for the coming school year.
The Arkansas Education Association, which represents unionized teachers across the state, applauded the Little Rock School District's decision on Wednesday to continue offering the AP course in defiance of Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders' signature law banning so-called "indoctrination" in public schools.
April Reisma, president of the union, told The New York Times that the school district's decision was "bold" considering the law, called the Arkansas LEARNS Act, also repealed decades-old laws that protected teachers from being dismissed without notice.
Teachers who will offer the class "are very scared," Reisma told the Times. "They can be let go at any moment for any reason."
Earlier this week, the state Education Department said if schools proceed with AP African American studies, the course would not count as credit toward graduation, and said it will not provide students with assistance if they can't afford the $98 fee to take the final test.
In a letter to students and parents on Wednesday the Little Rock School District (LRSD) said the class "will be weighted the same as all other AP courses" and that the district will cover the cost of taking the exam.
"Our educators are committed to providing engaging and thought-provoking lessons that encourage critical thinking, empathy, and a deep appreciation for cultural diversity," said the district.
In addition to Little Rock Central High School—the first in the nation to be racially integrated in 1957, over the objections of racist white people—high schools in Jonesboro, Jacksonville, and North Little Rock also said they will offer the course.
Huckabee Sanders' move banning the teaching of material that "would indoctrinate students with ideologies" followed a similar law in Florida. In July, a federal judge blocked another law passed by Arkansas' Republican Legislature which criminalized librarians who distributed materials that were deemed "harmful to minors."
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