Opinion
Appeals court allows sworn questioning in Escambia book-removal lawsuit
The 11th Circuit ruled that Escambia County school board members cannot use legislative privilege to avoid questions under oath about removing books from school libraries. The decision clears a path for discovery in a lawsuit alleging the removals violated constitutional protections; it does not decide the case’s merits.
School board members in Escambia County can be questioned under oath about decisions to remove books from public school libraries, after a federal appeals court ruled they are not shielded from that questioning by legislative privilege.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the decision Oct. 19. The ruling concerns a lawsuit challenging the removals on First Amendment and equal protection grounds. It allows the case to proceed with questioning of board members, but does not determine whether the removals were unconstitutional.
Authors, parents, students, a national publisher and PEN America filed the lawsuit in 2023 against the Escambia County School Board. The plaintiffs allege that most of the removed books were written by people of color or LGBTQ+ people.
The decision comes amid widespread book removals in Florida schools. State Department of Education figures cited in the dispute show that school boards removed or discontinued nearly 600 books during the 2025-26 academic year. Those actions took place in 10 of Florida’s 67 school districts.
Among the classic works that have faced removal, restrictions or challenges in Florida schools are Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World,” Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” and Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse-Five.”
Requiring board members to answer questions under oath could help establish how individual removal decisions were made and what factors shaped them. The lawsuit’s allegations remain to be resolved in court.