Federal judge blocks Arkansas law allowing librarians to be criminally charged over ‘harmful’ books

A federal judge has temporarily blocked Arkansas from enforcing a law that would have allowed criminal charges against librarians and booksellers for providing “harmful” materials to minors. U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks issued a preliminary injunction against the law on Saturday. The law was set to take effect Aug. 1. It also would have created a new process to challenge library materials and request they be relocated to areas children can’t access. The ruling comes as lawmakers in a number of conservative states are pushing for measures making it easier to ban or restrict access to books.