Ninth Circuit revives challenge to Idaho library book censorship law
Source: Courthouse News Service
January 29, 2026
(CN) — An Idaho law restricting books deemed “harmful” to minors buckled under Ninth Circuit review, with the appeals court on Thursday instructing a lower court to reconsider blocking at least a portion of the law. “At the very least, the ’threat of invoking legal sanctions’ against institutions like plaintiffs’ creates a ‘system of informal censorship,’ at most, the statute encourages formal censorship through the legal process,” U.S. Circuit Judge Milan Smith wrote on behalf of a three-judge panel. “The First Amendment does not tolerate either outcome.”
In July 2024, Idaho enacted a law requiring schools and libraries to pull books and other materials it deemed “harmful” to minors. House Bill 710 allows the government and citizens to sue any school or library that doesn’t move restricted material into designated “adult-only” sections within 60 days of receiving a complaint.
A group of private schools, privately funded libraries, parents and schoolchildren sued the state in federal court weeks after the law took effect, arguing the law infringes on their First Amendment rights. Last year, the lower court declined to block the law and dismissed all the plaintiffs for lack of standing except for the Northwest Association of Independent Schools and two of its member schools. U.S. District Judge Amanda Brailsford, a Joe Biden appointee, found Idaho has “an interest in regulating minors’ access to obscene material.”
On review, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit — which included U.S. Circuit Judge Jacqueline Nguyen, a Barack Obama appointee, and U.S. Circuit Judge Holly Thomas, a Joe Biden appointee — sided with the education groups and families on one aspect of their challenge. “Plaintiffs have shown that H.B. 710’s context clause likely renders the statute constitutionally overbroad,” Smith wrote.
Read more: https://courthousenews.com/ninth-circuit-revives-challenge-to-idaho-library-book-censorship-law/
Link to ORDER (PDF) - https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/idaho-books-ninth-circuit.pdf