ACLU files First Amendment lawsuit against Rutherford school board for book bans
This developing story has been updated with new information.
The Rutherford County Board of Education faces a federal First Amendment Lawsuit for banning books, a press release announced Wednesday.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee along with attorney Kerry Knox filed the lawsuit on behalf of three Rutherford County families and PEN America in response to the banning and restriction of more than 145 books from school libraries in the county.
The three families, who are anonymous, include two rising freshmen and a rising senior who will attend Rutherford County schools next year. PEN America, a national free expression organization, joined the lawsuit on behalf of its author members, 32 of whom have had a total of 53 books banned or restricted by the Rutherford County school board.
'The First Amendment is a crucial pillar of our country's democracy,' said ACLU-TN Legal Director Stella Yarbrough.
'A vocal minority of people are attempting to speak for Rutherford County parents by banning books – particularly those that address LGBTQ+ rights, race and racism – as part of a coordinated attack on inclusive education. As these baseless bans continued to escalate, we had no choice but to go to court to defend authors' free speech and students' freedom to learn.'
Yarbrough told the Rutherford County Library Alliance book-freedom advocates in March to expect the lawsuit soon.
The alliance formed in summer 2023 to advocate against book banning that started after the Murfreesboro City Council approved a community decency standards ordinance, said Tiffany Fee, the first president of the organization.
The council by late 2023 agreed to rescind the community decency standards ordinance as part of reaching a $500,000 lawsuit settlement by February in a federal lawsuit filed by the ACLU and organizers of the annual BoroPride LGBTQ+ festival.
Fee's organization is not a party to the lawsuit against the school board, but supports the efforts of the ACLU and plaintiffs in the case.
"The Rutherford County Library Alliance is grateful to the parties involved for filing the lawsuit and taking on the injustice that is happening in the Rutherford County schools by our school board," Fee said.
Fee in 2024 ran as a Democrat against winning Republican incumbent Caleb Tidwell, who has recommended many of the books to be removed from the school libraries.
"As taxpayers and the parents of public-school students in the county, we are saddened that it had to get to this point for the book removals to cease," Fee said. "The cost to our public schools is unfortunate and was completely avoidable."
TN ACLU attorney: Lawsuit coming soon for Rutherford Schools 'appetite for banning books'
Reach reporter Scott Broden with news tips or questions by emailing him at sbroden@dnj.com. To support his work with The Daily News Journal, sign up for a digital subscription.
This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: Tennessee book bans: ACLU files suit against Rutherford school board
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