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In 2002, the Cedarville School Board in Crawford County, Arkansas, ordered the removal of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books from library shelves, holding that "witchcraft or sorcery [should not] be available for study." The Board picked some formidable adversaries. School librarian Estella Roberts, standing on policy, had the books reviewed--and unanimously approved--by a committee of teachers and administrators that included a child and a parent. Not satisfied with the Board's half-measure permitting access to the books with parental approval, 4th-grader Dakota Counts and her father Bill Counts sued the school district in Federal court, drawing on the precedent Pico v. Island Trees to reaffirm that Constitutional rights apply to school libraries. Written by the lawyer who prosecuted the case, this book details the origins of the book ban and the civil procedures and legal arguments that restored the First Amendment in Cedarville.
About the author
Brian Meadors is a former U.S. Navy nuclear submarine officer. After his naval service, he attended Georgetown University Law Center, graduating cum laude. He practiced in Washington, DC, for a few years before moving to Fort Smith, Arkansas, where he was a trial lawyer for ten years. He is currently in-house counsel for a Fortune 500 corporation and lives in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Summary
In 2002 the Cedarville school board banned the Harry Potter series from public school libraries - but a school librarian, assisted by a fourth-grade girl, fought back with a federal lawsuit and won. Written by the lawyer who prosecuted the case, this book details the ban and the lawsuit that returned the books to Cedarville schools.
