Attorney General Steve Marshall has joined a 21-state coalition of attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit supporting Florida's House Bill 1069 (HB 1069), which prohibits books describing sex acts from K-12 public-school classrooms and libraries.
"Over the past year, parents have used their rights to object to pornographic and sexually explicit material they found in school libraries," Florida Governor Ron DeSantis explained in a statement. "We also know that some people have abused this process in an effort to score cheap political points."
One "activist" attempted to have Bibles, dictionaries and other books banned in a self-described effort to embarrass the governor and lawmakers.
In August 2024, Penguin Random House filed a lawsuit objecting to the law. In August 2025, a federal district court in Florida ruled that the law likely violates the First Amendment's Free Speech Clause and entered an order prohibiting the state from enforcing it.
"Selecting what books belong in public-school library collections necessarily involves making editorial decisions about which books—out of millions—are age-appropriate, educational, and worthy of expending taxpayer funds," the filing signed by Marshall stated.
"It should be common sense that the First Amendment does not require public schools to fill their library shelves with graphic books depicting sex acts. But we are at the point where such commonsense interpretations have to be spelled out in legal briefs, so we are proud to help Florida defend its law, and we call on the Eleventh Circuit to quickly correct the decision of the district court," Attorney General Marshall stated.
"HB 1069's prohibition on public-school libraries housing sexually explicit and pornographic books does not implicate the First Amendment's right to receive information. HB 1069 does not prevent or prohibit students from receiving those books from their parents (or any source other than public-school libraries), nor does it restrict student speech. It simply prohibits age-inappropriate books describing sex acts from being in K-12 public-school libraries at taxpayer expense," the filing explains.
Joining Attorney General Marshall in the Arkansas-led brief are attorneys general from Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.
To read the full letter, click here. To read the brief, click here.
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