PEN America, Penguin Random House, and a diverse group of authors joined with parents and students in Escambia County, Florida, to file a federal lawsuit challenging removals and restrictions of books from school libraries that violate their rights to free speech and equal protection under the law. This lawsuit brings together authors whose books have been banned and parents and students in the district who cannot access the books in a first of its kind challenge to unlawful censorship.

Florida has one of the highest rates of book removals and restrictions in the country, as researched by PEN America and documented in its latest Index of School Book Bans. Join us and scores of other Americans defending our democracy. Oppose restrictions and removal of books in your local schools and libraries.

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I stand with PEN America and the other plaintiffs (in PEN America, et al. v. Escambia County School District, et al.) against book removals and restrictions in Florida (and elsewhere). I support the efforts of PEN America, Penguin Random House, the authors of banned books, and the parents and students in Escambia County, Florida who initiated this action. As the unprecedented pace of challenges to books picks up across the country, we need to ensure that constitutional rights remain protected.

The United States has long served as a beacon of freedom and the free exchange of ideas is the first right that the founders protected in the Bill of Rights. I support the availability of targeted books and resist calls for curtailing the freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment.

Together with PEN America, we can defend books and writers, support diverse literature, and safeguard the freedom to imagine, tell stories, express opinions, share knowledge, and to access the opinions, ideas, and stories of others.