Contact:
Chris Finan, American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression,
(917) 509-0340
Theresa Chmara, Jenner & Block, (202) 639-6049
Dan Mach, Jenner & Block, (202) 637-6313
For Immediate Release
FORT SMITH, ARKANSAS, March 3, 2003–A dozen national groups and
author Judy Blume today asked a federal judge here to return J.K.
Rowling’s Harry Potter books to the library shelves of a western
Arkansas school district. The Cedarville school board voted to
remove the books in June. “It is incredible that school officials
have censored books that are exciting a whole generation of kids
about reading,” Chris Finan, president of the American Booksellers
Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE), said.
The Cedarville school board censored the Potter books when a
parent complained that they show “that there are ‘good witches’
and ‘good magic.’” She also claimed that the books teach that
“parents/teachers/rules are stupid and are something to be
ignored.” The books are kept on a restricted shelf. Students must
have their parents’ permission to borrow them.
The school board ignored the recommendation of a committee of
students, parents and librarians that voted 15-0 to continue to
permit unrestricted access. In July, one of the parents on the
committee joined his wife and son in filing a lawsuit that accuses
the school board of violating the First Amendment right to free
speech and to receive information. Attorneys for the family today
submitted a motion for summary judgment, urging the judge to make
a decision based on the facts that have been presented in
documents submitted to the court. The national groups filed an
amicus brief supporting the motion. The judge can either grant the
request or order a hearing.
This is the first legal challenge to a restriction on the use of
Harry Potter books in a public school. For the last four years,
the Potter books have been the most frequently challenged books in
the country, according to the American Library Association.
In addition to ABFFE and Judy Blume, the amicus brief is signed by
Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the
Association of American Publishers, the Association of Booksellers
for Children, the Center for First Amendment Rights, the
Children’s Book Council, Feminists for Free Expression, the
Freedom to Read Foundation, the National Coalition Against
Censorship, Peacefire, PEN American Center, People for the
American Way Foundation, the Student Press Law Center, and
Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts.
The brief is online at
http://www.freeexpression.org/newswire/potter.pdf. |
