Arkansas’ ‘Harmful to Minors’ Library Law Temporarily Blocked

An Arkansas law making it a crime for librarians and book sellers to make books deemed “harmful to minors” available to them was blocked by a federal judge while a constitutional challenge proceeds.

Public library systems, their patrons, bookstores, and free speech groups are likely to succeed on their arguments that the law is unconstitutionally overbroad and vague, Judge Timothy L. Brooks said.

Brooks, of the US District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, also preliminarily blocked a provision that would have required public libraries to establish a process through which an individual could challenge the “appropriateness” of a ...