Fifth Circuit Pauses Block on Texas Book Sex-Content Ratings Law

A Texas law that requires book sellers to assign sex-content ratings to all books they sell and have sold to public schools can be enforced after the Fifth Circuit temporarily suspended a trial court ruling that blocked it.

Last week, Judge Alan D. Albright said Book People Inc.—the state’s largest independent bookstore—and groups of publishers and authors are likely to succeed on their claims that the law would violate their First Amendment rights.

The law would have forced the private book sellers to create ratings with which they disagreed, Albright, of the US District Court for the Western District of Texas said, calling it “textbook compelled speech.” He granted their request to enjoin application and enforcement of the law while their constitutional challenge proceeds.

The state immediately appealed Albright’s decision to the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which issued an administrative stay, pending further action, on Monday. The stay temporarily suspends Albright’s order while the appeals court decides its next action.

Initial ratings lists are due April 1, 2024.

Judges Jennifer W. Elrod, Catharina Haynes, and Dana M. Douglas issued the unpublished order.

Haynes & Boone LLP represents Book People; VBK Inc.; which does business as Blue Willow Bookshop; the American Booksellers Association; the Association of American Publishers; the Authors Guild Inc., and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

The Texas Attorney General’s office represents Martha Wong, Chair of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, and other defendants.

The case is Book People Inc. v. Wong, 5th Cir., No. 23-50668, unpublished 9/25/23.