Arkansas ‘Harmful to Minors’ Law Draws Free Speech Challenge (1)

A new Arkansas law that exposes librarians to criminal liability for making books deemed “harmful to minors” available to them drew a constitutional challenge Friday from public library systems, their patrons, bookstores, and free speech groups who say the measure violates their First Amendment rights.

Bookstores and libraries say they will be forced by fear of prosecution to create separate “adults only” areas, or remove all materials that might be deemed harmful to their youngest patrons if they can’t isolate affected items—depriving adults and older minors of access to constitutionally protected material, the suit says.

Violations of the “availability” provision, ...