Lawyers for the defendants in a lawsuit filed by a group of U.S. military families over removal of library books and curriculum materials at Defense Department schools argued in recent court filings that there was no violation of students' First Amendment rights. The plaintiffs are challenging the Department of Defense Education Activity's enforcement of three executive orders issued in late January. (Jasmine Vu)
Attorneys for the Defense Department’s school system who are seeking dismissal of a lawsuit filed by military families argue that directives to remove library books and curriculum materials do not violate the students’ First Amendment rights.
Pentagon choices regarding what is taught to Department of Defense Education Activity students and what is made available to them in their schools’ libraries fall under constitutionally protected government speech, they contend in filings submitted Friday in federal court in Virginia.
“While schoolchildren have a right to critique the government’s speech, they do not have a right to choose the government’s message,” the defense said in the court documents.
The dismissal argument asserts that the 12 students from six families in Europe, Asia and the United States lack the legal standing to sue the federal government.
Seeking dismissal is common at the outset of civil suits involving the government.
The families asked Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles to give them until July 16 to submit their rebuttal, according to court papers.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed the legal action in April on behalf of the families in April. It names DODEA, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and DODEA Director Beth Schiavino-Narvaez.
The students and their families are challenging three executive orders signed in late January aimed at ending “radical indoctrination” in K-12 schools, eliminating “gender ideology extremism” in the federal government and “restoring America’s fighting force.”
The government argues in the court filings that the plaintiffs’ lawsuit is rooted in the results of the 2024 election, which returned former President Donald Trump to the White House.
“Their personal choices and preferences are no longer favored by a majority of the national electorate, and thus they seek relief from this Court to have their preferences restored,” it said.
The ACLU has said in earlier comments about the case that the schoolchildren of service members have the same First Amendment guarantees as their public school peers.
“Families in DODEA schools have the right to access books about race and gender and the right to learn about the vibrantly diverse world around them,” Emerson Sykes, a senior attorney at the organization, said in May.
The Pentagon subsequently directed DODEA schools to review and remove material deemed to support diversity, equity and inclusion, end cultural observances and celebrations, and shutter or reorganize clubs affiliated with gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation.
The complaint says the actions amount to “system-wide censorship” at their schools. They’re seeking the return of books on topics such as slavery, Native American history, LGBTQ+ identities and history, and prevention of sexual harassment and abuse, as well as restoration of portions of the Advanced Placement psychology curriculum.
Friday’s court filings argue that students do not have a First Amendment right to “receive information from the government in government-owned libraries.”
The students involved in the suit attend Crossroads Elementary School in Quantico, Va.; Barsanti Elementary School at Fort Campbell, Ky.; Aviano Middle High School in Aviano, Italy; and Sollars Elementary and Edgren Middle High schools in Misawa, Japan.
Government lawyers argue that the students’ speech has not been curtailed, and that none of them have shown they were prevented from checking out books due to their removal.
“The five DODEA schools at issue here have engaged in an expressive act, in furtherance of their curricular goals, to curate a library collection that is factually accurate, non-discriminatory, and aligns with the values it wishes to impart on DODEA schoolchildren,” the court document states.
The total number of books being evaluated as of June 10 was close to 600 and the review is still ongoing, DODEA attorneys said in court filings last month.
