U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks ruled that two parts of the law, stating booksellers’ and patrons’ First Amendment rights, used overly broad and vague language. In 2023, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-AR) signed into law Act 372, joining other conservative states and counties in the United States that have looked to restrict the availability of certain kinds of books to minors, mostly those with themes centered on race and LGBTQ matters.

“Up until the passage of Act 372, it appears that Arkansas’s more pressing concern with respect to librarians was that they be insulated from meritless claims and time-wasting prosecutions,” Brooks wrote. “Times have changed.”

The judge ruled that if the statute’s purpose was to “protect younger minors from accessing inappropriate sexual content in libraries and bookstores, the law will only achieve that end at the expense of everyone else’s First Amendment rights.”

Arkansas lawmakers said they would appeal the decision. 

“I respect the court’s ruling and will appeal,” said Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin.

Librarians and booksellers celebrated the ruling. The law required that any material deemed “harmful” to minors, including books, magazines, and movies, be shelved in a separate “adults only” area. The law also made it a misdemeanor, with the possibility of a year in prison to be used as punishment, for librarians and booksellers to distribute these items seen as “harmful” to a minor.

Librarians and booksellers previously warned that the law would create a chilling effect across the state as anyone could object to any book and pursue criminal charges against the person who provided it.

Brooks seemingly agreed, writing in his ruling, “The law deputizes librarians and booksellers as the agents of censorship; when motivated by the fear of jail time, it is likely they will shelve only books fit for young children and segregate or discard the rest.”

Holly Dickson, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, said the law “was an attempt to ‘thought police,’ and this victory over totalitarianism is a testament to the courage of librarians, booksellers and readers who refused to bow to intimidation.”