Federal judge halts Iowa's controversial book ban for now
- A federal judge has temporarily blocked part of Iowa's law that bans books showing sex acts in schools.
- The judge's ruling comes after publishers and authors contested the law as overly broad and unconstitutional.
- This legal decision indicates ongoing tensions over educational content and parental rights in Iowa.
In Iowa, a federal judge ruled on March 25, 2025, that the state cannot enforce a particular section of its book ban law, which prohibits school libraries from carrying books depicting sex acts. U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher's ruling provides a second temporary reprieve to major publishers who had filed a lawsuit against the state. The law, which was initially approved in 2023 by Iowa's Republican-controlled legislature and Governor Kim Reynolds, faced immediate legal challenges. Earlier attempts to block the law were overturned by the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, allowing it to be enforceable during the current school year. Locher declared that the applications of the book restrictions that could be deemed unconstitutional