Montgomery, Alabama (WDNews) — Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has joined 16 other state attorneys general in supporting a law in South Carolina that prohibits the teaching of what they say are divisive racial or sexual ideas in public schools.
According to Marshall, public schools are supported by the general public in order to serve their interests. However, many of these institutions have been using taxpayer monies to indoctrinate youngsters in divisive and dangerous radical ideas, as elected officials in South Carolina, Alabama, and other places have acknowledged. States are empowered by the constitution to prevent such indoctrination.
In a case filed by the South Carolina NAACP, two authors, a teacher, and a group of students who claim the statute infringes upon their First Amendment rights, the coalition filed an amicus brief. But according to the attorneys general, the crux of the matter is the state government’s role in public education.
According to the brief, the selection, curation, and placement of educational materials in public schools constitutes a type of government speech that does not infringe upon the right to free speech of any individual.
They further contend that public schools are not required by the constitution to promote or educate particular points of view. According to the brief, a citizen’s First Amendment right to information does not grant them the authority to demand or get information from the government at the expense of taxpayers. Accordingly, there is no First Amendment right to force public school libraries to fill their book shelves with provocative and discriminatory literature or to force state-funded schools to adopt specific course curricula.
The states contend that their actions restrict information availability in state-funded educational settings rather than preventing access to it. They have requested that the court dismiss the case and reject the plaintiff’s demand for a preliminary injunction.
Attorneys general from Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia have joined Marshall and South Carolina in the petition.
