Press Release

Publishers, Booksellers, and Authors File Amicus Brief Challenging Unconstitutional Iowa Law

On July 24, 2025, a broad coalition of publishers, booksellers, authors, and anti‑censorship and public education organizations filed an amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs in Penguin Random House, LLC v. Robbins, a suit challenging an unconstitutional Iowa law that would prohibit certain books describing sexual content in the state’s public school libraries.

The plaintiffs, which include Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan Publishers, Simon & Schuster, and the Authors Guild, as well as esteemed authors and educators, argue that the law at issue, SF 496, would eliminate access to hundreds of books. Books at risk for removal include classics such as I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, Maus by Art Spiegelman, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, Forever by Judy Blume, and Ulysses by James Joyce.

Joining together to author the amicus brief are American Booksellers for Free Expression, Association of American Publishers, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Educational Book and Media Association, Freedom to Learn Advocates, Freedom to Learn Foundation, Half Price Books, Records, Magazines, Inc., Independent Book Publishers Association, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, and Sisters in Crime.

Highlights from the brief include:

• “The reach of SF 496’s unconstitutional restriction of books extends further than just school libraries. The law will have a direct impact on the ability of the wide range of writers, artists, publishers, distributors, and retailers that amici represent to write, create, publish, produce, distribute, and sell books and literary works of all types, including materials that are scholarly, journalistic, educational, artistic, scientific, and entertaining. This will be felt certainly within the state of Iowa and with potential nationwide ramifications if this law is upheld.”
• “The blunderbuss approach of SF 496…does not meet the constitutional requisite, and the record is clear that the unconstitutional applications of this law far outweigh the constitutional ones.”
• “SF 496 provides a legal basis for eliminating a substantial portion of the history of human creativity from school library shelves.”
• “Compounding the constitutional problem is the fact that law does not account for the age of the minor. SF 496 fails to regulate with the nuance required by the First Amendment, treating all minors under the age of 18 as a monolith…. SF 496 does not implement an age-appropriate regime, it implements an age indifferent one.”
• “SF 496 is…extreme: it mandates outright removal of any book with a description of a sex act, regardless of value…This blanket removal forecloses any individualized or age-sensitive assessment of whether books are developmentally appropriate for the age level of the particular school library, resulting in the loss of access to a wide range of constitutionally protected works for all students, including older minors.”
• “[SF 496’s] vague text raises fundamental due process concerns and invites arbitrary enforcement.”

The full amicus brief can be found here.