Judge denies motion to dismiss Llano librarian’s lawsuit after she was fired over book ban

A judge on Tuesday denied a motion to dismiss the lawsuit of a Llano County librarian who was fired in 2022 after refusing to remove books that were deemed “pornographic.”

Iris Halpern, the attorney representing Suzette Baker, said in a statement that “We are confident that the law is on the side of our client Suzette Baker and all of the other brave librarians across the country rejecting censorship and discriminatory animosity. This is 2024, not 1824.”

Baker filed a lawsuit in March, citing in the lawsuit that the library fired her for supposedly allowing “personal opinions to interfere with job duties and procedures.”

The removal came after Texas State Rep. Matt Krause sent a letter to the Texas Education Agency recommending the banning of 850 books because of their “sexually explicit” content. These books primarily included themes of race, sexuality, and puberty.

This led the Llano County Advisory Board to identify 17 titles that were on the so-called “Krause list,” and it removed them from the system.

The three libraries in the county were at risk after local commissioners considered shutting them down instead of complying with a federal judge’s ruling to return the 17 books to shelves. In April 2023, Llano County Judge Ron Cunningham announced that the library system would remain open after a special meeting.

Halpern maintains that book bans are unpatriotic, un-American, and unlawful.

“It’s time we stopped playing politics with our First Amendment freedom of speech, access to information, and right to live in a democratic, pluralistic, society that prioritizes individual liberties and intellectual freedom,” Halpern added.

Some of the titles initially removed from the Llano Library system included It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex and Sexual Health by Robbie H. Harris; They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group by Susan Campbell Bartoletti; and Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen by Jazz Jennings.

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