Overview
- U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles issued a preliminary injunction requiring immediate return of removed library books and curricular materials and halting further removals at the five plaintiff schools.
- The order covers Crossroads Elementary (Quantico, Va.), Barsanti Elementary (Fort Campbell, Ky.), Aviano Middle-High (Italy), and Sollars Elementary and Edgren Middle-High (Misawa Air Base, Japan).
- The court found the Defense Department Education Activity’s actions likely violated students’ First Amendment right to receive information and rejected claims that library curation constituted protected government speech.
- Defendants filed a public list of 596 affected titles after the judge criticized an inconsistent, opaque “quarantine” process triggered by January executive orders targeting so-called gender ideology and divisive concepts.
- Further proceedings on the merits are pending, with DoDEA declining comment during litigation and the ACLU calling the limited but immediate relief an important victory for military-connected students.