Most Popular Videos Featured On KDKA.com
Nov 16, 2009 3:10 pm US/Eastern
Supreme Court Will Not Hear Book Banning Case
MIAMI (CBS) ―
-
-
Emilio Izqurdo and Dalila Rodriguez oppose "Vamos a Cuba" and "Discovery Cultures, Cuba" being available at the libraries of the children's schools.
Miami Herald
U.S. Supreme Court justices will not hear the case involving the Miami-Dade School Board and the ACLU over a book school officials banned from its shelves, CBS station WFOR-TV reports.
The school board removed the book "Vamos a Cuba" from school libraries, which depicted children in communist uniforms and did not address problems with the country's problems.
On Monday, justices rejected the American Civil Liberties Union appeal which sought to overturn the ban. The Miami-Dade County School Board said it banned the book because it did not mention allegations against Cuba on the following topics: civil liberties, political indoctrination, food rationing and forced child labor.
The decision shocked the ACLU and its leaders.
"It is a sad day for free speech in our great nation," said JoNel Newman, ACLU of Florida Cooperating Counsel. "This is a dangerous precedent, and a huge leap backwards in the battle against censorship. The aftershocks may be felt in public school libraries across the country. "
The ban stemmed from a complaint from a former political prisoner in Cuba. A federal judge heard the case in Miami and ruled that the board needed to add books with different perspectives and not remove offending titles.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta overturned the decision by concluding that the school board wouldn't be infringing freedom of speech rights by keeping the book off its shelves because it depicts imprecise view of life in Cuba.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
Latest 5-Day Forecast
Click to enlarge
Kerrigan Family Rejects Homicide Report 29 mins ago
Stumble It!
Comments