A county in Texas may close its public library system after a federal judge ruled a children’s book ban unconstitutional.

The Llano County commissioners are set to meet Thursday to decide the future of the system. Library supporters are expected to put up a fight at the meeting.

“We may not get another opportunity to save our library system and, more importantly, the public servants who work there,” Leila Green Little, a Llano resident, wrote in an email to other county residents urging them to come to the Thursday meeting.

In her email, Ms. Little attached a screenshot of a text message between Vice Chairwoman of the Llano County Library Advisory Board Bonnie Wallace and one of her supporters. The text was obtained through discovery as part of the civil suit that Ms. Little and six other residents filed against the commission last year.

The text read in part, “If we lose the injunction, he will CLOSE the library because he WILL NOT put the porn back in the kid’s section!” Ms. Wallace was referring to Llano County Judge Ron Cunningham.

The children’s books removed ranged from Maurice Sendak’s “In the Night Kitchen,” which includes nudity, to Robie Harris’ “It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health.” 

Also banned was “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents,” which equates parts of America’s experience with minorities to the caste systems of India and Nazi Germany.

Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman ruled that the library commission violated the residents’ First and 14th Amendment rights by removing the books without notice or ability to appeal. In his ruling, he ordered the commission to return the books.

“The evidence demonstrates that, without an injunction, defendants will continue to make access to the subject books difficult or impossible,” Judge Pittman wrote in his decision.

The judge did dismiss the plaintiff’s request to reinstate the library’s e-book system, which gave residents access to nearly all of the library’s content.

The ruling comes during a nationwide push from conservatives to remove certain books from public and school libraries. Books covering sexual health, LGBTQ issues and racism have been targeted for removal by parental groups and school boards.

A PEN America study found 2,532 instances of barred books from July 2021 to June 2022. The bans occurred in 138 school districts, encompassing 5,049 schools and nearly 4 million students.

• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.