Free Expression

Patricia S. Schroeder, president and CEO of the Association of American Publishers and a former Democratic representative from Colorado's 1st Congressional District, calls for the passage of the Freedom to Read Protection Act in this Op-Ed piece, which was published in the July 6 edition of the Denver Post. By Patricia S. Schroeder

In January, the U.S. Supreme Court said it would hear Nike v. Kasky -- a case that could have produced an important ruling on whether or not the First Amendment protects corporate commercial speech. Now, the Supreme Court says it won't hear the case after all. On June 26, the high court issued a one-sentence order declaring it had changed its mind -- that Nike's appeal had been "improvidently granted." The case will head back to California's state court, though experts believe there's a good chance that it will end up at the door of the U.S.

At Maria's Bookshop in Durango, Colorado, owners Peter Schertz and Andrea Avantaggio are speaking out about keeping secrets. The secrets are the purchases made by customers, and the books and Web sites used by library patrons. They do not believe any of that information should be released to government agents without explanation. However, under Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act, passed in the wake of 9/11, federal investigators can demand that information of booksellers and library personnel, who are then forbidden to inform patrons of the disclosure.

On Monday, June 23, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 6 - 3 to uphold the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), which requires public libraries seeking government subsidies to install filtering software to block materials considered obscene, child pornography, or "harmful to minors." The American Library Association (ALA) and American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) had challenged the law, contending that it violated the First Amendment. "We are disappointed with [the decision]," said Jenner & Block attorney Theresa Chmara, counsel for ALA.

Support for the Freedom to Read Protection Act (H.R. 1157) within the book, library, and publishing industry continues to grow.

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) is asking Wisconsin independent booksellers to sign a letter that will be sent to Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), the House Judiciary Committee chair, regarding the Freedom to Read Protection Act (H.R. 1157). In the letter, the booksellers express their support for the Act and also request a meeting with the congressman.

When Cammie Mannino, owner of Halfway Down the Stairs in Rochester, Michigan, encouraged booksellers to donate part of the proceeds from the sales of the new Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix to the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE), she spurred Betsey Detwiler, owner of Buttonwood Books & Toys in Cohasset, Massachusetts, to also allow customers to either donate 20 percent to ABFFE or their local schools.

June 19, 2003, marks the 50th anniversary of the executions of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg for "conspiracy to commit espionage." Although the highly publicized case has always been referred to as a trial for treason and high-level atomic espionage -- passing the secret of the atom bomb to the Soviet Union -- those crimes were not charged. No one has ever proven that the Rosenbergs, left-wing, Jewish parents of two young boys, living on the lower east side of Manhattan, passed any classified materials of any kind.

Ingram Distribution Joins Group of Over 30 Book-Related Organizations Supporting H.R. 1157