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VietnameseGriffin: ‘The First Amendment does not compel public-school libraries to stock library shelves with graphic depictions of sex acts’
LITTLE ROCK – Attorney General Tim Griffin issued the following statement after he led a coalition of 20 state attorneys general in filing an amicus brief with the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in support of an Iowa law that prohibits public-school libraries from lining shelves with materials that describe sex acts:
“Iowa’s legislature has the power to protect children from graphic materials in public-school libraries. Iowa’s law is now being challenged as violating the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment, and the law has been frozen by a preliminary injunction.
“Our brief clearly outlines the flaws of the plaintiffs’ claim. The selection of what materials belong in public-school library collections necessarily involves making editorial decisions about age-appropriateness, educational value, and what is worthy of expending taxpayer dollars. Exercising editorial discretion is considered ‘speech’ under legal definitions. And because the government is the one making those decisions, they are considered ‘government speech,’ which falls outside of the scope of the First Amendment.
“Apart from the government-speech doctrine, the free-speech rights enshrined in the First Amendment do not provide a right to compel information at taxpayers’ expense. Schools can’t be compelled to provide certain materials, and the First Amendment does not compel public-school libraries to stock library shelves with graphic depictions of sex acts that elementary students can access without their parents’ knowledge or consent.
“I appreciate the excellent work of Solicitor General Autumn Hamit Patterson, Deputy Solicitor General Noah Watson, and Senior Assistant Solicitor General Asher Steinberg on this brief. Our coalition stands firmly with Iowa to protect children from this harmful content.”
To read the amicus brief, click here.
To download a PDF of this release, click here.
Joining the Arkansas-led amicus are the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.
About Attorney General Tim Griffin
Tim Griffin was sworn in as the 57th Attorney General of Arkansas on January 10, 2023, having previously served as the state’s 20th Lieutenant Governor from 2015-2023. From 2011-2015, Griffin served as the 24th representative of Arkansas’s Second Congressional District, where he served on the House Committee on Ways and Means, House Armed Services Committee, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, House Committee on Ethics and House Committee on the Judiciary while also serving as a Deputy Whip for the Majority.
Griffin is currently an officer in the Arkansas Army National Guard and holds the rank of colonel. Griffin served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps for more than 28 years. In 2005, Griffin was mobilized to active duty as an Army prosecutor at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and served with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in Mosul, Iraq.
His previous assignments include serving as the Commander of the 2d Legal Operations Detachment in New Orleans, Louisiana; the Commander of the 134th Legal Operations Detachment at Fort Bragg, North Carolina; and as a Senior Legislative Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at the Pentagon. Griffin earned a master’s degree in strategic studies as a Distinguished Honor Graduate from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.
Griffin also served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Political Affairs for President George W. Bush; Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice; Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Arkansas; Senior Investigative Counsel, Government Reform and Oversight Committee, U.S. House of Representatives; and Associate Independent Counsel, Office of Independent Counsel David M. Barrett, In re: HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros.
Griffin is a graduate of Magnolia High School, Hendrix College in Conway, and Tulane Law School in New Orleans. He attended graduate school at Oxford University. He is admitted to practice law in Arkansas (active) and Louisiana (inactive). Griffin lives in Little Rock with his wife, Elizabeth, a Camden native, and their three children.
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