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A federal judge could rule on whether to halt policies at the Autauga-Prattville Public Library by the end of September based on an order entered Thursday.
Judge Myron Thompson granted plaintiffs’ motion for leave to supplement or amend their original complaint in the light of new policies passed by the board in June in an attempt to have the lawsuit dismissed.
Plaintiffs have already submitted the new amended complaint and the board has until Aug. 30 to file a renewed motion to dismiss the case, and plaintiffs will be allowed to respond to that motion by Sept. 13. Defendant will have an opportunity to make a further reply by Sept. 20.
The board must also respond to the plaintiffs’ renewed motion for a preliminary injunction by Sept. 13, and plaintiffs can file a reply to that response by Sept. 20.
The two schedules are working in conjunction so that Thompson can consider both briefings simultaneously, in part because the case for preliminary injunction would include making a case for jurisdictional grounds which the board plans to challenge.
Bryan Taylor, counsel for the board, told Thompson in a status conference Wednesday that the board is not interested in a ruling on the merits and wants the case thrown out solely on jurisdictional grounds. But Thompson said he’d like to go ahead and rule on the preliminary injunction as well so that the merits and jurisdictional issues can be decided simultaneously.
If Thompson grants a preliminary injunction, it will be based on a likelihood for the plaintiffs to succeed on the merits.
The board has pleaded in filings that the plaintiffs— patrons, Read Freely Alabama and the Alabama Library Association—have no standing because they have not demonstrated any imminent actual injury and framed their allegations as conjectural.
Plaintiffs maintain that they are being injured every day the policies remain in place, pointing in part to the removal of dozens of challenged books from the catalog. Interim director Tammy Bear told APR those books have been pulled for review and not removed from the collection entirely. The previous library staff did not remove books from the catalog when they were under review.
Library boards across the state are watching and waiting to see what will happen with the Prattville lawsuit as they contend with new requirements from the Alabama Public Library Service to receive state aid.
Libraries are now required to have a policy that keeps “sexually explicit” books out of sections for minors as well as other undefined “inappropriate material.” Libraries are also prohibited from purchasing sexually explicit books aimed at minors even for their adult sections if they want to receive state aid. So a popular book like John Green’s “Looking for Alaska” should be blocked by policy from being added to any library collection moving forward.
Some library systems are grappling with what might be more costly: following the new APLS guidelines and facing a lawsuit, or losing access to state funds. Some of the state’s best-funded systems could afford to withdraw from the APLS despite losing state aid.
