New York State Bar Association To Explore Book Banning in Public Schools
6.9.2025
The New York State Bar Association will examine the contentious debate between free speech advocates who argue that book banning violates the First Amendment and parental rights groups who contend that children should be protected from sexually explicit books in public school libraries.
The continuing legal education course, “Burn Before Reading: State Book Banning Laws and Litigation,” takes place on Wednesday, June 18, from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. Journalists are invited but must contact David Alexander at dalexander@nysba.org ahead of time.
Michael J. Grygiel and Kelly L. McNamee, shareholders at Greenberg Traurig, and Daniel R. Novack, vice president and associate general counsel at Penguin Random House, will discuss their involvement in book banning lawsuits. Grygiel and McNamee challenged book banning legislation in public schools while Novack represents Penguin Random House, a plaintiff in a book banning lawsuit in Iowa.
Over the past decade, book banning became a cultural flashpoint as the number of titles caught in the crosshairs rose rapidly. A nationwide advocacy group that supports writers determined that there were more than 10,000 instances of book censorship in public schools nationwide throughout the 2023-24 school year, as compared to 3,362 the previous year, including 65 instances in New York state. The group, PEN America, also said that 44% of those banned books featured people and characters of color and 39% of them had LGBTQ+ individuals as their central figures.
The course is free for New York State Bar Association members, as one of the many benefits of the association’s new, all-inclusive membership package. The program is sponsored by the association’s Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Section.
