Book reviews during the 2021-2022 school year took place after Texas Rep. Matt Krause demanded districts review books on a list of 850 titles he circulated.
Republican-backed HB 900, recently signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, would require booksellers to give ratings to materials they sell based on their sexual content. Further, the law, which goes into effect Sept. 1, would require schools to remove those rated as sexually explicit from library shelves and only make them available to students able to provide parental permission.
"The Book Ban compels Plaintiffs to express the government’s views, even if they do not agree, and operates as a prior restraint, two of the most egregious constitutional infringements," according to the complaint filed by Austin’s BookPeople, West Houston’s Blue Willow Bookshop, the American Booksellers Association, the Association of American Publishers, the Authors Guild and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.