The plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit against Llano County have filed a petition to have their case heard at the highest level; now, the county has until Oct. 14, to file a response in opposition.
A 48-page petition for a writ of certiorari was filed with the U.S. Supreme Court on Sept. 9. The petitioners argue that justices with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit were erroneous to have sided with Llano County in their divided decision in May.
“The First Amendment provides fundamental protection when government officials suppress speech because they disagree with the ideas expressed,” said attorney Elizabeth Prelogar with Cooley LLP. Cooley, the national law firm representing the petitioners in the Little v. Llano County lawsuit, provided a statement for the News in an email this week. “Llano County’s removal of books from the public library to prevent access to disfavored viewpoints violated that essential constitutional guarantee. The Fifth Circuit was wrong to say that this kind of governmental censorship does not trigger any scrutiny at all under the First Amendment, and its decision warrants Supreme Court review.”
