Plaintiffs challenging Idaho’s book banning law, House Bill 710, in Penguin Random House et al. v. Raúl Labrador et al. filed a notice of appeal on August 21. Plaintiffs in PRH v. Labrador include the Big Five publishers, Sourcebooks, and the Authors Guild; authors John Green, Malinda Lo, and Dashka Slater; the Donnelly Public Library District in Idaho; and a teacher, two students, and two parents. They are challenging the book removals taking place under the law and the chilling effect of the legal threat to librarians and library workers.
On July 22, U.S. District Court Judge Amanda K. Brailsford stayed proceedings in the case, pending the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in Northwest Association of Independent Schools et al. v. Raúl Labrador et al., which also concerns the constitutionality of HB 710. On August 24, the Ninth Circuit notified the parties in Northwest Independent Schools v. Labrador that it has scheduled oral arguments for November 3 in Portland, Ore., meaning that a decision in the PRH case would have to wait at least until late 2025.
HB 710, also known as the Children's School and Library Protection Act, prohibits individuals under age 18 from accessing materials containing “verbal descriptions or narrative accounts of sexual excitement, sexual content, or sado-masochistic abuse”—phrasing that, in many book banning efforts, strongly correlates with the removal of titles containing LGBTQ+ content. Echoing PRH’s successful case against Florida HB 1069, PRH v. Labrador challenges HB 710’s ambiguous definition of “sexual content,” which the plaintiffs have called “exceptionally broad, vague, and overtly discriminatory."
The law requires that libraries “restrict access to minors to material harmful to minors” and “relocate the material harmful to minors to an area to an area with adult access only.” The requirement to relocate materials that could invite scrutiny has led to extreme measures. In May 2024, the one-room Donnelly Public Library District—one of the PRH v. Labrador plaintiffs—restricted access to anyone under 18 unless accompanied by a parent or guardian, and this reduced its ability to provide families with after-school care and slowed its library material circulations.
In addition, private citizens have the power under the law to file complaints and seek damages against public schools and libraries that they allege to have supplied harmful materials. Idaho county prosecutors and the state attorney general may seek "injunctive relief from any school or public library that violates" HB 710, although the law does not specify any penalties.
Two Similar Idaho Cases
Idaho Governor Brad Little signed HB 710 in April 2024, and the Northwest Association of Independent Schools plaintiffs filed their complaint in July 2024, three weeks after the law took effect on July 1. This case addresses how the new Idaho law engages with the obscenity standard set in the Supreme Court’s Miller v. California decision of 1973, Idaho's own obscenity standards from 1976, and interpretations of the phrase "harmful to minors."
The Northwest plaintiffs initially argued that HB 710 violates the First and the Fourteenth Amendments, and Judge Brailsford denied them a preliminary injunction in March of this year. When the appeal went to the Ninth Circuit in April, the plaintiffs dropped their Fourteenth Amendment claim and doubled down on a "First Amendment overbreadth claim," arguing that "Idaho’s law against distributing obscene materials to minors is unconstitutionally overbroad."
Now that she is presiding over PRH v. Labrador, Judge Brailsford has contended that “the merits underpinning both Northwest and Plaintiffs’ preliminary injunction are whether HB 710 incorporates Miller and its progeny.” She believes that “the Ninth Circuit’s answer to the Miller question in Northwest will bind this Court’s resolution of Plaintiffs’ identical arguments in this case.”
Plaintiffs in PRH v. Labrador want the case to go ahead, while the judge believes that both cases “share a common legal question: whether the text of HB 710 complies with Miller.” She noted that “the Ninth Circuit is considering the appeal on an expedited preliminary injunction schedule,” and is inclined to wait for the November 3 court date.
HB 710’s Repercussions
Meanwhile, implementation of the law has “accelerated" ideological differences among libraries, Idaho Library Association president Lance McGrath told PW. “We see the impact of the desire to control and censor information as an example in North Idaho, with the dissolution of the Cooperative Information Network (CIN)," McGrath said.
The CIN, a 14-library consortium that shared materials and served patrons across the North Idaho region, voted to dissolve after internal disputes arose with its largest member, the Community Library Network (CLN). In January, the CLN "voted to restrict its nearly 9,000 library cards belonging to minors from placing holds on CIN's catalog," reported the Spokane, Wa.–based Spokesman-Review, and most of CIN's members felt this measure overstepped the law. Now, minus the CLN and Benewah County Library Free District, 12 North Idaho libraries comprise a new and smaller InlandShare Library Group, which takes effect in September.
McGrath explained that the ILA, which is not a plaintiff in either PRH or Northwest Association, is in a condition of "watchful waiting" for action on both cases. "We think the cases will be successful on the part of the plaintiffs," he said. "We would like to see these cases move forward and be adjudicated so we can get back to restoring First Amendment rights in Idaho libraries and schools."
