In a rare win for history, creativity, and diversity, federal officials are being ordered to return recently banned books to military libraries and schools.
In her 44-page opinion text, Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled that the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA), which adjudicates schools and libraries for military families, cannot impose President Trump’s executive action to remove books referencing race and gender.
As a result, the DoDEA quarantined about 600 books and revised school curricula that addressed subjects like Native American history, women’s history, the American slave trade, sexual orientation, race, and immigration.
The immense amount of history being scrubbed here begs the question of what would actually remain for study if these orders were to continue. Last April, the ACLU sued the DoDEA, and the latest ruling has provided the organization with new momentum in its fight against similar book bans.
Judge Giles issued an injunction requiring the DoDEA to restore the literature in their schools citing a number of reasons:
- First Amendment protections. The court found that libraries are “loci of intellectual freedom” and students must be free to express their curiosity to “study and evaluate” America’s history to “gain new maturity and understanding.”
- Censorship. The orders removed access to ideas based on race/gender, which directly contradicted the viewpoints of the administration. It’s just not enough to censor literature because it mentions these very real social structures.
- Lack of clarity. The process by which the orders would be enforced (ie, which books specifically were removed and the rationale behind their removal) was never made clear.
- Lack of authority. Finally, the department didn’t have the capability to alter the curriculum without a proper reason that infringed on the rights of students, teachers, or educational institutions.
While the fight against censorship isn’t even close to its end, numerous organizations have noted this win as a “solid first step” towards contesting the Trump Administration’s attack against speech as it relates to historically oppressed communities.
This case is still ongoing. The ruling only impacts the enforcement of these orders and not the legality of the orders themselves, so we still have a long, arduous battle ahead.
The opening salvo, though, is a win for all those who believe in freedom of speech.
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