Protecting Children and Free Speech Online

ATLANTA – The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Florida filed an amicus brief in Parnell v. School Board of Escambia County today, arguing that the First Amendment prevents the government from removing books from school libraries for ideological reasons. And Tango Makes Three, written by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson and illustrated by Henry Cole, was removed from schools in Escambia County, Florida in 2023 because of its depiction of two male penguins raising a chick together. The book, based on real penguins at the Central Park Zoo, has won multiple literary awards and is widely beloved by parents and educators. Parnell and Richardson filed suit in 2023 alongside a student in Escambia County schools, arguing that the book’s removal violated the First Amendment. “Removing a book from the library explicitly because of its perceived ideological leanings is antithetical to the First Amendment,” said Emerson Sykes, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. “The pedagogical value of And Tango Makes Three has never been questioned by the school board, and similar books with heterosexual penguins remain on the shelf. The government has no business deciding which types of penguins, books, or relationships we can read about.” In response to the lawsuit, Escambia County attempted to advance the argument that books in school libraries are government speech and therefore exempt from First Amendment protections. In October, a federal judge in the Northern District of Florida sidestepped the government speech argument but nevertheless ruled in Escambia County’s favor, saying school libraries are not a public forum and therefore the First Amendment does not apply. “Students deserve to see families that look like theirs reflected in the books they read, and to have the opportunity to read about people (and penguins) that differ from themselves,” said Shana Knizhnik, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project. “This case is about more than one picture book: it’s about whether the government can control what we write, what we read, and what we share with one another. Students in Escambia County have every right to check out And Tango Makes Three or any other book they want without fear that the government will take it off the shelf for political reasons.” Plaintiffs filed an appeal with the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in October. The ACLU’s amicus brief outlines why the government speech doctrine does not apply to library catalog curation and that the First Amendment applies to library book removals. The ACLU’s amicus brief can be read here.

BOSTON – A federal district court today issued a preliminary injunction ordering the federal government to restore Rümeysa Öztürk’s SEVIS student record, which was unlawfully terminated in March by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The court held that Ms. Öztürk was likely to succeed on her claim that the termination was arbitrary and capricious, and therefore violated the Administrative Procedure Act. SEVIS is a database administered by ICE and used to track foreign students, including those in F-1 student status like Ms. Öztürk. The reactivation of the SEVIS record will allow Ms. Öztürk to participate in employment and research experiences that are integral to her graduate studies. "My student SEVIS record was unlawfully canceled by the government for co-authoring an op-ed in which I advocated for equal dignity and humanity for all — and after eight long months, that record will now finally be restored,” said Rümeysa Öztürk. “Going through this brutality, which began with my unlawful arrest and 45 days of detention at a shameful for-profit ICE prison in Louisiana, I feel more connected to everyone whose educational rights are being denied — especially in Gaza, where countless scholars have been murdered and every university has been intentionally destroyed. Here in the US, it is truly sad how much valuable knowledge is currently being lost due to the widespread fear of punishment within the academic community. I hope one day we can create a world where everyone uses education to learn, connect, civically engage and benefit others — rather than criminalize and punish those whose opinions differ from our own. While I am grateful for the Court's decision, I still feel a great deal of grief for all the educational rights I have been arbitrarily denied as a scholar and a woman in my final year of doctoral studies. Nonetheless, this decision gives me hope, and I earnestly hope that no one else experiences the injustices I have suffered." In 2024, Ms. Öztürk co-wrote an op-ed in the Tufts Daily, her student newspaper, encouraging the administration to listen to the student body’s demands about the war in Gaza; a year later, the Trump administration arrested and detained her in retaliation for her speech. She was held in a for-profit ICE facility in Louisiana for 45 days before a federal judge released her on bail this spring. “Every day that Ms. Öztürk’s SEVIS record remained terminated was a day that the government continued to punish her for her constitutionally protected speech,” said Jessie Rossman, legal director at the ACLU of Massachusetts. “After months of this unlawful, and unfair, treatment, we are grateful that her student record will now be reinstated. Ms. Öztürk came to Massachusetts as a scholar to study childhood development and the media, and we all benefit when she is able to fully participate in her doctoral program.” “I am ecstatic that Rumeysa’s F1 SEVIS student record will finally be restored after the Trump Administration’s unlawful termination,” said Mahsa Khanbabai of Khanbabai Immigration Law. “This administration continues to weaponize our immigration system to target valued members of our communities by secretly revoking validly issued visas, terminating status without a lawful basis, and detaining people in inhumane for-profit ICE prisons. Our immigration laws should not be manipulated to silence students and scholars who advocate for an end to the Palestinian genocide. I look forward to the day when we have a just and impartial immigration court and the end of government overreach violating our First Amendment rights.” The restoration of her SEVIS record is one important step toward justice for Ms. Öztürk. Her habeas case, which challenges her arrest and detention, is pending in the federal district court in Vermont. The government’s appeal of that court’s transfer order is pending before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Ms. Öztürk is represented in federal court by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Massachusetts, the ACLU of Vermont, Mahsa Khanbabai of Khanbabai Immigration Law, The CLEAR Project at CUNY School of Law, and the law firm Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP. Read the order here.