A federal judge ruled Monday that an Arkansas law allowing for the prosecution of librarians and booksellers who distribute sexually explicit content to minors is unconstitutional.
Obama-appointed Judge Timothy Brooks struck down the law stating that it is “vaguely worded” and “violates the due process rights of professional librarians and booksellers and the First Amendment rights of library and bookstore patrons.” The penalty for anyone allowing minors to access inappropriate content would have been up to a year of jail time.
“The Court therefore concludes that Plaintiffs have established as a matter of law that Section 5 would permit, if not encourage, library committees and local governmental bodies to make censorship decisions based on content or viewpoint, which would violate the First Amendment,” Brooks wrote in the court’s opinion.
The law would have given…
