The Maryland Freedom to Read Act: Recognizing a New Right to Prevent School Library Book Exclusions in the Era of Polarized School Boards

Rianna C. Mukherjee

In the 1982 case Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District No. 26 v. Pico, the Supreme Court considered whether the First Amendment right to freedom of expression allows limiting the discretion of school boards to remove books from the school library. Because Pico resulted in a plurality opinion and the narrowest grounds rested in Justice White’s concurrence, arguing that the case could be resolved without addressing the underlying First Amendment questions, there is no Supreme Court precedent on this issue. Therefore, this Comment begins by arguing that the First Amendment’s scope in the context of school library book bans is an underenforced constitutional norm that leaves room for states to fill in the jurisprudential gaps.

In 2024, Maryland passed the Freedom to Read Act, becoming one of the first states to pass anti-book banning legislation to prevent the growing number of school library book challenges. Notably, the Freedom to Read Act extends protections against book bans further than the Pico plurality did. The Freedom to Read Act recognizes the right to prevent schools and school boards from removing and excluding books based on partisanship, ideology, or religious objections. This Comment explores the practical implications of allowing book removal and exclusion claims. In doing so, it contributes a judicial framework to help courts evaluate claims arising from anti-book banning laws.