Overview
- Chief U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor granted summary judgment to the Escambia County School Board, rejecting claims by authors Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson and a student identified as B.G.
- Winsor held that making books available in a school library does not create a forum for others’ speech, so the authors have no right to speak through the library and the student has no right to receive their message there.
- The judge declined to resolve whether library curation is government speech, writing that the board would prevail regardless because the First Amendment is not implicated by these selection decisions.
- The order noted the removal does not block access to the book entirely, stating students who want it must obtain it through other means.
- The decision arrives alongside conflicting federal rulings on book removals, and a separate, broader Escambia County case brought by parents, authors, Penguin Random House and PEN America remains pending.