Education
By Judge John Marshall Meisburg, Jr., 10-9-25
A U.S. District Judge in the Northern District of Florida has issued a major ruling allowing the removal of an immoral book from the public schools of Escambia County.
Federal Judge Allen Winsor (a Trump appointee) ruled that the First Amendment did not protect the keeping of a book called “And Tango Makes Three” in the public schools. The Court reasoned that public school libraries were not “public forums” to which the First Amendment applies, and that public school boards and administrators have the discretion to remove any books that, in their opinion, are immoral, or not age appropriate, and should not be read by impressionable students. The Court also said that the First Amendment does not apply because these books are still available to be read in the public libraries, outside of schools. The Court said that the removal of this book from the public school did not violate the First Amendment rights of students or the authors of this book. The judge cited he recent Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Little v. Llano County which held that the removal of a book from the public library in that county could not be challenged on First Amendment grounds. That case has been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The suit in this case was brought by Penguin Books and was defending a book called “And Tango Makes Three”, a book that describes two male penguins in a same-sex relationship, who raise a baby chick. The book clearly implies support for the concept of homosexuality and same sex marriage, and for that apparent reason was removed from the schools.
This decision is a major victory for Christians in Florida who have been fighting legally to remove pornographic and immoral books from the public schools. In the past, many liberal school administrators have ruled that if a book as a whole contains “literary value” that a few suspect (even pornographic) pages and passages are not a reason to remove the book from the school libraries. But this decision holds otherwise, and gives Florida public school officials wide discretion to remove any book that they find immoral or not age appropriate or both.
While this decision may be appealed, that may be a good thing, as it will allow us to have an appellate and even U.S. Supreme Court decision that will act a regional and/or national precedent. This is an important national issue. Liberals have placed very immoral and even pornographic books in the public schools of America. These books push the LGBTQ/homosexual political agenda, and actually contain highly sexual pornographic language as well as profanity. In my view, placing these books is actually criminal child abuse, and the persons who place these books in the schools should be prosecuted. The courts are now giving school officials the legal right to remove these books from the schools to protect the innocence and character our young people. In Nassau County, hundreds of pornographic and immoral books have been placed in the public schools, and many are pending removal in lengthy hearings per parental objections. I urge the Nassau County school officials to read the Penguin Book decision, and remove all of these immoral books immediately to avoid the time and expense of lengthy hearings. We the taxpayers demand action and accountability! We need to get back to basics in the schools, and have our young people read the Bible, (which the Supreme Court ruled can be a public school textbook), biographies of great men and women, and other classic books, to advance a first-class education, not an immoral, political agenda.
John Marshall Meisburg, Jr. is a retired judge and practicing attorney in Nassau County
The views expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal Florida
