ACLU v. Miami-Dade County School Board: Reading Pico Imprecisely, Writing Undue Restrictions on Public School Library Books, and Adding to the Collection of Students' First Amendment Right Violations
![handle is hein.journals/vllalr56 and id is 99 raw text is: 2011]
Notes
ACLU v. MIAMI-DADE COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD- READING PICO
IMPRECISELY, WRITING UNDUE RESTRICTIONS ON PUBLIC
SCHOOL LIBRARY BOOKS, AND ADDING TO THE COLLECTION
OF STUDENTS' FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT VIOLATIONS
What a school thinks about its library is a measure of what it feels
about education.-Harold Howe III
I. INTRODUCTION
As a corollary to the insight articulated by Harold Howe II, the former
Commissioner of Education, callous restrictions on school library collec-
tions jeopardize schools' educational value and impede students' learn-
ing.2 The ideals libraries promote-intellectual growth and the exchange
of ideas-are essential aspects of a well-functioning society.3 Thus, there
is a great risk that society's progress will be deterred when the government
inhibits access to library materials.4 It is particularly harmful and repug-
nant to the First Amendment when the government restricts access to
ideas to intentionally suppress their message.5
In the public school setting, libraries enable students to access ideas
unavailable in the school curriculum and provide a means for students to
1. On Libraries and Learning, 13 SCH. LIBR. J. 27, 28 (1967), reprinted in 92 LIBR.
J. 842 (1967) (describing significance of public school library in public education
system).
2. See Bd. of Educ. v. Pico, 457 U.S. 853, 868-69 (1982) (plurality opinion)
(discussing harmful impact of restrictions in public school libraries).
3. See Marjorie Heins, Viewpoint Discrimination, 24 HASTINGS CONST. L.Q. 99,
100 (1996) (explaining that exchange of wide variety of ideas enhances society).
See generally AM. LIBRARY Ass'N, Intellectual Freedom and Censorship Q & A, http://
www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/oif/basics/ifcensorshipqanda.cfm (last visited
Apr. 7, 2011) (discussing importance of intellectual freedom for society).
4. See Martin D. Munic, Comment, Education or Indoctrination-Removal of
Books from Public School Libraries: Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free
School District No. 26 v. Pico, 68 MINN. L. REv. 213, 237 (1983) (proposing that
state action mandating removal of library books is harmful because it denies access
to constitutionally protected information and thus government must have compel-
ling interest for taking such action); see also ANNE PROFFIrrr DUPRE, SPEAKING UP:
THE UNINTENDED COSTS OF FREE SPEECH IN PUBLIC SCHOOLs 108 (2009) (explain-
ing harm caused by government censorship).
5. See DUPRE, supra note 4, at 129 (arguing that deliberate restrictions on ideas
by government violates constitutional guarantees). As governmental actors, public
libraries must act in accordance with the First Amendment. See Anne Klinefelter,
First Amendment Limits on Library Collection Management, 102 LAw LIBR. J. 343, 349
(2010) (explaining that public libraries are government actors and must abide by
First Amendment guarantees).
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