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In the fall of 1975, a New York school board received a complaint from a community group. The group was called the Parents of New York United. The complaint stated that that school policies on library books were too liberal. They were complaining about nine books
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The Board petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court and they were granted certiorari.
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They moved these 11 books that were claiming were “ anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic and just filthy.”
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The Board ordered that certain books be removed from its districts junior high and high school libraries.The Board said the books were “anti-American, anti-Christain, anti-Semitic, or filthy.”
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Steven Pico brought upon the lawsuit to the federal district court to challenge the School Board’s decision to remove the books.
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When the case went to the Federal District Court the Board won the case.
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The case made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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The Supreme court recognized the need for the school to uphold the social and moral values of rhe community. The shcool libraries have special free speech and press rights. The Boards’ power has rules secondary to the First Amendment. Therefore, the Board could not restrict the books in the library simply because they did not agree with them.