Free Expression

On February 19, Arizona U.S. District Judge Alfredo C. Marquez permanently enjoined the Arizona statute criminalizing the intentional transmission over the Internet of materials considered to be "harmful to minors." The court found the statute to be unconstitutional under both the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution and the First Amendment.

On February 6, 2002, the fight over free speech on the Internet returned to a Brattleboro, Vermont, courtroom, as the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) continued the legal case over the constitutionality of a Vermont statute criminalizing sexual content communicated via the Internet. But the hearing -- held almost a year to the day after ABFFE and a diverse group of civil rights organizations and businesses first filed the complaint -- was more a battle over legal language than free speech.

On Thursday, February 8, The Red Balloon Bookshop, a St. Paul, Minnesota-based childrens bookstore, was host to a panel discussion on free expression. The innovative idea grew from an incident last November, when a Red Balloon Bookshop customer wanted to ban a book she had never read. The patron (an educator, in fact) came to store manager, Roxanna Markie, incensed that the bookstore carried the book Little Black Sambo. Based only on the title, the educator assumed the book to be racist. It isnt.

Judy Blume is one of the best loved -- and most frequently censored -- authors. Her novels for both kids and adults have sold over 75 million copies, including Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret; Superfudge; Blubber; Just As Long as We're Together; Forever; and, most recently, Summer Sisters.

What do you give the bookseller who has everything? Give her a front row seat in the fight for free speech by making her a member of ABFFE -- the bookseller's voice in the fight against censorship. ABFFE is now offering introductory memberships for $15 -- a 70 percent discount on the cost of an individual membership.

Booksellers who have dreamed of having a long chat with an award-winning author or illustrator will get to compete for the chance in March during a nationwide auction conducted by the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE). Leonard Marcus, Chris Raschka, Robert Sabuda, Jon Scieszka, Peter Sis, and Vera B. Williams are the first confirmed participants in the new ABFFE Author Auction (Click here for biographical info about authors in the ABFFE Author Auction).

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) will have something to appeal to both the serious and the fun-loving sides of the booksellers who visit New York City in May for BookExpo America. On Friday, May 3, Barbara Kingsolver will participate in an ABFFE panel on the impact of the September 11 terrorist attacks on civil liberties. And on Saturday night, the Rock Bottom Remainders will rock Greenwich Village in a Book Industry Foundation concert to benefit ABFFE and the Association of American Publishers' Get Caught Reading campaign.

A California school district has ordered a high school principal to return William Styron's novel Sophie's Choice to the shelves of the school library. La Mirada High School Principal Andrew Huynh had removed the acclaimed novel after a parent complained that the book contained sexual material that was inappropriate for minors.

A crowd estimated at between 450 and 550 packed A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books in San Francisco on January 11 to raise funds to help pay the legal fees of Denver's Tattered Cover Book Store, which has challenged a court order requiring it to turn over information about a customer's book purchases. The event raised $10,000 for the bookstore.

Last spring, out of the masses of books energetically offered at BookExpo America 2001, Jim Harris, owner of Prairie Lights Books in Iowa City, Iowa, found himself compelled to pick up and read an advance copy of The Last Summer of Reason by Tahar Djaout (Ruminator), he recently told BTW.