ABA Signs Amicus Brief Contesting Drag Ban in Texas
American Booksellers Association has jointly signed an amicus brief urging the Fifth Circuit to again reject a drag ban by West Texas A&M. ABA joined Authors Guild, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, National Coalition Against Censorship, and other free expression organizations in asking the appellate court to call this ban what it is: prior restraint on constitutionally protected free expression.
The Fifth Circuit is rehearing the case en banc (that is, by every judge on the Fifth Circuit) after a three-judge panel previously ruled the ban was unconstitutional. ABA joined the brief in consideration of the many bookstores who host drag story time events and because public officials should not be able to restrict the free expression of others based on their personal beliefs.