Carlos Mendoza, a President Barack Obama-appointed judge in the Middle District Court of Florida, issued a summary judgement in a lawsuit filed by book publishers against the 2023 law, HB 1069, this week.
The suit, filed a year ago, asked the court to deem the state’s interpretation of “pornographic” and content that “describes sexual conduct” unconstitutional.
“By leaving these items undefined, Florida has given parents license to object to materials under an ‘I know it when I see it’ approach,” Mendoza wrote in his 50-page judgement, referring to a lack of definition for “pornographic” and “describes sexual conduct.”
Publishers Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan Publishing, and Simon & Schuster argued the law removes books without considering their literary or artistic value.
The law, Mendoza wrote, “does not evaluate the work to determine if it has any holistic value,” a key part of the legal standard to determine whether material is obscene.
“Educators must again perform statutory interpretation on the fly to determine what exactly is ‘inappropriate’ or ‘unsuitable’ because those terms go undefined. All the while, the specter of harsh penalties looms in the background,” Mendoza wrote.
Especially recently, the Florida Department of Education has made public threats and called superintendents in front of the state Board of Education to explain why certain materials are in school libraries.
Also on the plaintiffs’ side were The Authors Guild, John Green, Jodi Picoult, and other authors and parents.
Mendoza listed various books involved in the suit, including “The Color Purple,” “I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter,” “Paper Towns,” “The Kite Runner,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Water for Elephants,” and “Homegoing.”
“None of these books are obscene,” Mendoza wrote.
Mendoza determined “pornographic” in law is synonymous with “harmful to minors.”
A Florida Senate committee this year debated further defining what school boards should consider “harmful to minors” but after First Amendment concerns arose, the bill stalled.
Dan Novack, an attorney representing the publishers called it “a sweeping victory for the right to read, and for every student’s freedom to think, learn, and explore ideas,” in a statement to the Phoenix.
“We are elated that the federal court in Florida has upheld the First Amendment rights of students, educators, authors, and publishers. The Court ruled that books may only be removed from school libraries if they lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value when considered as a whole,” Novack said.
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.
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This article appears in Aug 14-20, 2025.