A group of booksellers and publishers filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against Texas officials to block House Bill (HB) 900, the state’s new book ratings law. The plaintiffs believe the new law could ban classics like “Romeo and Juliet” and “Of Mice and Men” from state public school classrooms and libraries due to sex-related content.

The suit aims to enjoin the enforcement of HB 900, which was signed into law by Texas Governor Greg Abbott in June 2023. The law purports to protect children by requiring book vendors to assign ratings to books based on the inclusion of references to sex. Under HB 900, a book shall receive a “sexually explicit” rating if, after a “contextual analysis” conducted by the vendor, it is found to contain material that is “patently offensive.”

The plaintiffs allege that HB 90o violates the First Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution due to its overbroad and vague language. Specifically, they argue that it “targets protected speech and is not narrowly tailored to serve a compelling state interest.” Because the law requires book vendors to submit ratings to the Texas Education Agency who has ultimate discretion over a book’s final rating, the plaintiffs contend that it “grants the government unchecked licensing authority to dictate which books are allowed in public schools and which booksellers can conduct business with public schools.”

In support of their argument, the plaintiffs cited Texas v. Johnson, a 1989 U.S. Supreme Court case in which it was held that the government cannot prohibit the expression of ideas merely because some people might find them offensive. The complaint reads:

[HB 900] harkens back to dark days in our nation’s history when the government served as licensors and dictated the public dissemination of information. The lessons from our history should be learned, not ignored, and the constitutional prohibitions against censorship regimes should be respected, not rebuffed. This Court should heed the warnings of the past and enjoin the enforcement of [HB 900]. As guided by history and US Supreme Court precedent, the government should not dictate what is allowed in the marketplace of ideas.

Librarians and legal advocates have been expressing concerns regarding the legislation’s vague language long before HB 900 was passed. A statement from PEN America referred to the legislation as “a dangerous escalation in the movement to censor public education.”