ACLU Wins Injunction in Petition-Driven
Restriction of Books
Less than a week after Wichita Falls (Tex.) Public Library Administrator Linda Hughes received petitions signed by 570 people who want Daddy’s Roommate and Heather Has Two Mommies removed from children’s-area shelves, the American Civil Liberties Union has won a three-week injunction against the titles being moved. U.S. District Judge Jerry Buchmeyer issued the order July 20, pending a hearing tentatively slated for August 9 on where the books should be housed until the lawsuit itself is resolved.
In a suit filed July 16 on behalf of 19 residents of Wichita Falls, the ACLU asks the court to find unconstitutional a city ordinance passed in February that forces the library to restrict a title when presented with a petition with 300 signatures requesting such an action. The ordinance allows city officials to issue a waiver on a case-by-case basis, but City Manager Jim Berzina declined Hughes’s waiver request July 15, the ACLU noted on announcing the lawsuit.
Posted July 26, 1999.
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