Abstract
In recent years, the increase in book censorship laws and attempts in school libraries across the United States has led to concerns about the propriety of such censorships. This has drawn much attention to the Supreme Court’s decision in Board of Education v. Pico, which established the standard for evaluating the constitutionality of removing books from school libraries. Yet, by analyzing, under the Pico standard, the constitutionality of Texas, Florida, and Illinois’s laws pertaining to book censorship, this Note demonstrates that the Pico standard is practically limited and difficult to apply. Therefore, a more applicable test for analyzing the constitutionality of laws pertaining to book censorship is needed to supplement the Pico standard. This Note proposes a modified version of the Miller test, which strives to balance the need to protect school boards’ abilities to exercise their discretion to manage school affairs and curriculum with the need to protect students’ First Amendment rights to receive ideas in school libraries. Although this proposed test is not without limitations, it would at least constitute a better alternative for courts to apply compared to the Pico standard. At the very least, courts should consider supplementing the Pico standard with the modified version of the Miller test whenever it adjudicates cases that involve a school board or state law seeking to censor books regarded as obscene in school libraries.
Recommended Citation
Michael Lee,
Modifying the Miller Test to Supplement Board of Education v. Pico: A Novel Approach for Resolving Censorship Cases in School Libraries,
49
S. Ill. U. L.J.
307
(2025).
Available at:
https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/siulj/vol49/iss2/10