ABFFE Joins Groups in Challenging New Arkansas Statute

On Monday, June 23, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) joined Arkansas' That Bookstore in Blytheville and others in challenging the constitutionality of new amendments to an Arkansas statute. The law, due to go into effect on June 26, would require retailers -- at the risk of jail or fines -- to segregate any work that is "harmful to minors" in an "adults only" section of the store. The groups filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Little Rock.

The plaintiffs contend that the new law would violate the First Amendment rights of adults by restricting their access to a wide range of novels and nonfiction books that have some sexual content, but have serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. Moreover, the law unconstitutionally requires retailers and libraries to prevent all minors from accessing constitutionally protected materials that may be considered inappropriate for younger minors.

"Under this law, I would be required to create an 'adults only' section in my store to display some of the greatest novels and most important works of serious nonfiction," Mary Gay Shipley, owner of That Bookstore in Blytheville, said. "I don't sell 'dirty books,' and I resent being treated like I run an adult bookstore."

Shipley explained that popular novels and serious nonfiction carried in countless bookstores -- such as I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, and Joy of Sex by Alex Comfort -- "feature sexual content, or have sexual content on the cover, that some might consider inappropriate for young children."

Michael A. Bamberger, a New York-based partner with Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, and lead counsel for the plaintiffs, stressed that the law has been clear for many years: If an attempt to protect minors restricts the First Amendment rights of adults, it violates the First Amendment. "As the U.S. Supreme Court has said," he said, "the state cannot burn the house to roast the pig."

In addition to That Bookstore in Blytheville, ABFFE, and the ACLU of Arkansas, other plaintiffs in the suit are the Arkansas Library Association, Association of American Publishers, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Freedom to Read Foundation, and the International Periodical Distributors Association. --David Grogan