Federal Judge Blocks Iowa Book Ban for Second Time Over Constitutional Concerns

The ruling halts enforcement of a law banning books with sexual content, citing its removal of works with substantial literary and artistic value.

A federal judge has temporarily blocked Iowa's Senate File 496, a law banning books depicting sex acts in schools, for the second time.
Judge Stephen Locher ruled that the law was being applied unconstitutionally, leading to the removal of books with significant literary, artistic, and scientific value.
Books affected by the ban include '1984,' 'Ulysses,' 'Beloved,' and 'The Kite Runner,' among other acclaimed works.
The law, enacted in 2023, prohibits books with any description of a sex act without evaluating the work as a whole, sparking legal challenges from authors and publishers.
State officials, including Iowa's attorney general, are expected to appeal the ruling, leaving the law's future uncertain.