American Booksellers for Free Expression

Legal work

Legal work as ABFFE (1990-2015)

The predecessor to the ABFE, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, participated in legal cases involving the First Amendment and free speech. They filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court case US v Stevens (2010); filed a brief in Federal Communications Commission v. Fox Television Stations (2009); and filed briefs in The American Academy of Religion, Association of American University Presses, PEN American Center, Ramadan v Chertoff et al. and Trump v O’Brien.

ABFFE was active in a five-year campaign to restore reader privacy safeguards affected by the USA PATRIOT Act. ABFFE tracked all cases of attempts by law enforcement to seize bookstore records during that period.

Legal work as ABFE (2015-Present)

American Booksellers for Free Expression participates in legal cases involving First Amendment rights and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The organization also participates in coalitions dedicated to the defense of free expression through organizing and legal advocacy, such as the Free Expression Network (FEN).

In 2022, the ABFE was part of a coalition of booksellers' organizations which brought a lawsuit against the state of Texas challenging a new censorship law called the Restricting Explicit and Adult-Designated Educational Resources (READER) Act which would have imposed a restrictive content-based rating system on books sold to school libraries in the state. In January 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld a lower court's ruling in favour of the plaintiffs, blocking enforcement of the law on the grounds that the READER Act is unconstitutional. In July 2022, the ACLU brought forward a motion to dismiss in Virginia on behalf of the ABFE and other organizations, in response to a lawsuit which argued that Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe and A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas are obscene and therefore sales of the book should be restricted. In August 2022, a Virginia state judge threw out the lawsuit, again on the grounds of unconstitutionality.

Activities

American Booksellers for Free Expression is a sponsor of the annual Banned Books Week event in the United States. The organization also participates in planning the event. The purpose of Banned Books Week is to serve as a statement on the value of intellectual freedom in reading and to highlight the challenges faced by books and authors that have been subject to censorship or restriction. The event's organizers and sponsors aim to raise awareness and promote discussions about the importance of open access to diverse ideas and perspectives in literature.

ABFE also sponsors the Kids’ Right to Read Project, a collaboration with the National Coalition Against Censorship, which "offers support, education, and advocacy to people facing book challenges or bans and engages local activists in promoting the freedom to read."

The organization maintains an "Oppositions Map", which is published on the ABA's website. The map tracks states which have introduced legislation which "threatens the right to free expression", as well as the ABFE's attempts to defeat said legislation. The organization also tracks and publishes book challenges.

In 2020, the ABFE put out a statement denouncing the backlash against controversial novel American Dirt. The promotional book tour for the novel had been cancelled due to widespread threats of boycott and alleged threats of physical violence towards the author.

In 2023, the ABFE published The ABA Right to Read Toolkit: How Booksellers and Readers Can Resist Book Bans. The document is freely available to read and download. It contains information about the history of and intentions behind book bans, advice on how to resist book bans (including advice about how to execute tactics such as read-ins, and how to deal with online harassment), and information about the activities of the ABFE and the ABA.

References

References

1. [http://www.bookweb.org/abfe ABFFE]
2. "Free Expression (ABFFE)".
3. (Nov 18, 2014). "ABFFE to Merge With ABA: Free Speech Programming to Expand".
4. (2018-02-05). "ABA Promotes David Grogan to Director of ABFE, Advocacy and Public Policy".
5. (2017-06-21). "ABFE Director Chris Finan to Leave ABA".
6. Albanese, Andrew. (16 March 2023). "NCAC Executive Director Christopher Finan to Retire".
7. "Restoring Safeguards for Reader Privacy Eliminated by the USAPatriot Act".
8. (2005). "America's Unpatriotic Acts: The Federal Government's Violation of Constitutional and Civil Rights". Peter Lang.
9. "ABFE & Free Speech".
10. Price, Gary. (2023-07-25). "Lawsuit: Coalition of Local and National Booksellers, Authors and Publishers File Suit to Challenge New Censorship Law and Defend the Right of Free Expression in Texas".
11. Howell, Jordan. (2024-01-18). "‘Good day for free expression’ after Fifth Circuit blocks Texas’ controversial book rating law {{!}} The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression".
12. Moomaw, Graham. (2022-07-06). "Free-speech groups, book world fight back in Virginia obscenity case".
13. Albanese, Andrew. "Judge Tosses Virginia Obscenity Cases, Declares State Law Unconstitutional".
14. "The Coalition {{!}} Banned Books Week".
15. "ABFE & Free Speech".
16. Borresen, Jennifer. (2 October 2023). "Banned Books Week: A visual dive into an alarming increase in attempts to restrict books".
17. (2014-08-20). "Read a banned book". Plaquemine Post South.
18. (2013-08-30). "Kids' Right to Read Project".
19. "ABFE Oppositions Map".
20. "Advocacy".
21. León, Concepción de. (2020-01-29). "‘American Dirt’ Publisher Cancels Book Tour". The New York Times.
22. "The ABA Right to Read Toolkit".