By early February, Jessica Henninger realized something had changed radically in her daughters' home. school at Fort Campbell military base in Kentucky.
First, she said she received an email from one of her daughter's teachers asking students to return their library books and saying the library would be closed indefinitely.
Around the same time, a Black History Month project, a living wax museum in which her other daughter planned to portray the poet Maya Angelou, was canceled.
Changes occurred a few days after The Pentagon issued guidance do not use official resources to recognize cultural awareness months such as Black History Month. According to the guide, titled “Identity Months Are Dead in the Department of Defense,” “Attempts to divide forces—to put one group ahead of another—undermine camaraderie and jeopardize mission accomplishment.”
The school her daughters attend is run by the federal government as part of the Defense Education Activity, often called DoDEA. DoDEA has more than 67,000 students enrolled in chapters in the United States and 11 other countries. according to his website.
Henninger described feeling “helpless” amid the changes.
“At DoDEA, our children's education can be changed by executive order of the President of the United States,” she said.
Henninger shared her concerns with the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed a lawsuit in Aprilsaying the administration's actions violated the First Amendment.
the complaint said On February 10, parents received an email stating that DoDEA staff had “reviewed” books related to race and gender and that such books would not be made available to students. The complaint asked the judge to order officials to restore the deleted books and prohibit the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Director of DoDEA Beth Schiavino-Narvaez from ordering further seizure of school libraries and curriculum.
As of early October, there had been no ruling in the case or a separate filing with the ACLU. request for preliminary injunction this will prevent DoDEA schools from seizing books and curriculum while litigation continues.
“Students at DoDEA schools have been back in the classroom for nearly two months, but nearly 600 books are still missing,” said a senior ACLU attorney. Emerson Sykes said on October 8 during Banned Books Week. annual event spread information about book censorship throughout the country. “We look forward to the time when they can finally read books that reflect their experiences and communities.”
Sykes told USA TODAY in June that the government shouldn't use politics to determine what students can study.
“It is clear that these (restrictions) were not reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns, but were in fact related to imposing a ban on ideas that the government considers politically incorrect or politically difficult.” This, Sykes said, “becomes a First Amendment issue.”
The Pentagon told USA TODAY it does not comment on pending litigation.
Book bans and parental rights will be hot issues in 2025
The scope of the ban, as well as its implementation in schools run by the federal government, makes the lawsuit “truly the first of its kind,” he said. Casey MeehanProgram Director of the American PEN Club's Freedom to Read initiative.
Organization included in coalition sponsoring Banned Books Weektracks bans across the country from 2021. Meehan said attempts to ban books began at the local levelwhen parents approached school boards with their concerns about books in school libraries, which then led to a statewide effort. and legislation.
Now that Trump is back in power, the movement was adopted at the federal levelMeehan said.
Florida and Texas have the highest number of book bans for the 2024-2025 school year. according to PEN America. During this school year, the organization recorded more than 6,800 cases of book bans.
Books were also at the center of Mahmud v. Taylor, a case in which religious parents of students in a public school district in Maryland tried to abandon their children from reading LGBTQ-themed books in school.
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the parents in June, saying that prohibit refusal “imposes an unconstitutional burden on the rights of parents to freely exercise their religion.”
Henninger sees a “really important difference” between the two cases.
“Turn your children away from something and say, ‘No, thank you. “I wouldn’t want my child involved in this discussion” is a completely different matter than deciding for every child in school that they should not be allowed to study this topic, she said.
Parents should be able to control their children's education “to some extent,” Henninger said, adding that the executive branch is going beyond its efforts to do the same.
“It's a slippery slope if you're going to start saying that the federal government can dictate what our children can and cannot be taught,” she said. “You’re opening the door to executive abuse and politicization of the education system, and that’s not entirely normal.”
Sykes, the ACLU attorney, told USA TODAY in June that the government should not use policy to limit what students can study. “It is clear that these (restrictions) were not reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns, but were in fact about imposing a ban on ideas that the government considers politically incorrect or politically difficult.” This, Sykes said, “becomes a First Amendment issue.”
Members of the military had differing opinions about the administration's actions and its subsequent lawsuit, Henninger said. While there may be political differences, she said they are ultimately more united by the unique experiences of military life.
“We can't let things like this get in the way of friendships and support systems, which are really important in a life like this,” she said.
BreeAnne Frank is the First Amendment reporter for USA TODAY. Contact her at [email protected].
USA TODAY's coverage of First Amendment issues is funded through collaborations between Freedom Forum and journalism funding partners. Sponsors do not provide editorial information.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Military spouse sues Ministry of Defense over book ban
