Texas' 'READER' act ruled unconstitutional by a federal court for 3rd time

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The two-year-long legal battle over a Texas law will likely draw to an end after a federal court judge ruled Tuesday that the law violates the U.S. Constitution. With a similar rating made by an appeals court, the judgment marks the third time the law has been declared unconstitutional by federal courts.

Texas' 2023 House Bill 900, or the “Restricting Explicit and Adult-Designated Educational Resources Act,” would have required book vendors to put content ratings on their books. The Texas Education Agency would have been able to overrule those ratings, and failure to comply would have led to the removal of books from school libraries.

The ruling is the last major step in the case, barring an appeal by Texas to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In September 2023, U.S. District Court Judge Alan D Albright ruled the law was likely unconstitutional and issued a temporary injunction.

Texas appealed the lawsuit, which led to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals lifting the injunction while it considered the case. In January 2024, the appellate judges gave their ruling, agreeing with the lower court that the law was unconstitutional. That ruling enjoined Texas from enforcing HB 900.

This led to Albright's latest ruling in the case on Tuesday. With it, he granted the plaintiffs' summary judgment motion in part, blocking Texas from enforcement.

While he agreed with the state that there is a compelling interest in regulating what content children can access, he wrote that HB 900's "methods are not the way to further that interest."

"The Court agrees with Defendant’s premise that Texas has an interest in safeguarding children against sexually explicit material—especially materials purchased with public funds for public schools," Albright wrote. "Even though the interest Defendant points to is a good and noble one, that does not outweigh the fact that READER tries to serve that goal in an unconstitutional way."

He also said that the plaintiffs were correct in asserting that HB 900 was "unconstitutional as it compels speech, is void for vagueness, and is an unconstitutional prior restraint." The ruling didn't give plaintiffs their request for an injunction against HB 183, which allows parents to review library materials and lodge complaints with schools.

"Even though HB 183 incorporates some of the same language from READER to categorize books, it does not function the same way that READER would," the order states.