Members of the Escambia County School Board can be made to testify about why they removed certain books from school libraries, a federal appeals court ruled Monday, Oct. 19, in a lawsuit that has run since 2023.
The case was filed by PEN American Center, book publishers including Penguin Random House, authors and parents after the Panhandle district pulled titles from its schools. Board members had sought to avoid depositions by claiming legislative privilege, the protection lawmakers have against being forced to explain their votes.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit rejected that argument 2-1 and affirmed the trial judge.
Administrators, not legislators
Writing for the majority, Judge Andrew Brasher said the board was applying policies it had already adopted, which Florida law requires it to have, to specific books after members of the public objected. That work, he wrote, looked like administrative fact-finding rather than lawmaking. Judge Jill Pryor joined him.
Brasher stressed that the ruling is narrow. The court did not decide whether other privileges or discovery rules might still limit or block the depositions, and it did not say that every decision to stock or remove a book is administrative.
Chief Judge William Pryor dissented. He argued that an elected board voting to take a contested book off library shelves is deciding a political question and setting general policy, which he said is exactly what the privilege protects. In his view, the majority "wrongly strips them of their privilege to avoid testifying about those votes," according to Florida Phoenix.
