Eighth Circuit Upholds Arkansas Library Law, Rejects Overbreadth Claim

A three-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a facial overbreadth challenge to Arkansas’s Act 372, which bars libraries from providing material deemed harmful to minors.

In Fayetteville Public Library v. Crawford County, the Eighth Circuit affirmed Arkansas’s authority to require public libraries to segregate books considered harmful to minors under Act 372. Judges Steven Grasz and Ralph Erickson concluded that the plaintiffs did not present evidence that the law would infringe on the rights of other library users, a prerequisite for a successful overbreadth claim. The panel also found the evidentiary record insufficient to assess the statute’s entire scope, preventing a finding of substantial overbreadth.

Chief Judge Colloton concurred, emphasizing that libraries may organize collections to protect younger patrons without violating the First Amendment. The decision reinstates the district court’s injunction requiring libraries to adopt written policies for material selection and challenge procedures. Arkansas Assistant Attorneys General Autumn Hamit Patterson, Mary Erica Crouse, and Noah P. Watson, along with Forrest C. Stobaugh, James D. Rankin III, and Samuel S. McLelland, represented the state defendants.