Free Expression

Support for H.R. 1157, the Freedom to Read Protection Act, continues to build. Ten additional members of Congress have recently become co-sponsors of the bill, which would remove a threat created by the USA Patriot Act to the privacy of bookstore and library records. The members join Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and 65 other members of Congress.

Attorney Theresa Chmara, a partner with the law firm of Jenner & Block in Washington, D.C., has been named the recipient of the 2003 Freedom to Read Foundation Roll of Honor Award. Chmara is general counsel of the Freedom to Read Foundation and a member of the Board of Directors of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression. Chmara was also part of the legal team representing ABA in its lawsuit against Barnes & Noble and Borders.

On Thursday, April 25, two days after a federal judge in Arkansas ordered the Cedarville School District to put the Harry Potter series back on school library shelves, the Cedarville School Board voted not to appeal the federal court order, as reported by the Associated Press. Last July, two Cedarville parents filed a federal lawsuit challenging the school board's decision to restrict access to the Potter series.

On Tuesday, April 22, a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas ruled in favor of two Cedarville, Arkansas, parents, Billy Ray and Mary Nell Counts, who challenged the Cedarville School District's attempt to restrict students' access to the Harry Potter series in school libraries. In March 2003, more than a dozen national groups, including the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE), and author Judy Blume, filed an amicus brief in support of the parents.

After the title of the book at the center of a landmark First Amendment case came to light last week, a Denver Post editorial once again praised the Tattered Cover Book Store for its decision to fight what could have been "a nasty precedent of allowing the government to stick its nose where it doesn't belong."

On April 10, in U.S. District Court of South Carolina's Charleston Division, Amazon argued to block a government's subpoena to turn over the purchase records of a Charleston real estate broker who the U.S. government alleged received child pornography. Ultimately, the government's effort to access the customer's book purchase records from Amazon officially ended after a plea arrangement was worked out between the defendant and authorities.

On behalf of his client, the lawyer representing the customer at the center of a landmark case involving Denver's Tattered Cover Book Store and its fight to protect the privacy of customer records recently authorized Tattered Cover's legal counsel to reveal the name of the book that had been sought by law enforcement officials for more than two years. The title, Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters by Kenneth G. Henshall, had nothing to do with the case involving a methamphetamine lab.

Support for H.R. 1157, the Freedom to Read Protection Act, continues to grow. In the last week, seven more members of Congress became co-sponsors of the bill, which would remove a threat created by the USA Patriot Act to the privacy of bookstore and library records. They join Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and 58 other members of Congress.

Four advocacy groups' Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the government over how it is using the widespread surveillance powers it has been granted under the USA Patriot Act continues.