AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that a Texas law, which would have required book publishers and sellers to provide content ratings for books, is an unconstitutional breach of the First Amendment protection against compelled speech.

House Bill 900, titled “Restricting Explicit and Adult-Designated Educational Resources Act” (READER), was passed by the Texas Legislature in 2023.

The judges took issue with the “vendor-rating system” required by HB 900. This system would require publishers and booksellers to provide content ratings of “sexually explicit,” “sexually relevant” or “no rating” for every book ever sold to a Texas library.

“According to the State…the library-material ratings are ‘purely factual and uncontroversial’ like a nutrition label; they simply tell the buyer what they are receiving rather than pass judgment or express a view on the material’s appropriateness for children. We disagree,” the court’s ruling read. “The ratings READER requires are neither factual nor uncontroversial.”

In order for the government to force speech from individuals or business, they must demonstrate a sufficient public interest; the judges found Texas’ justification lacking.

“We agree with the State that it has an interest in protecting children from harmful library materials,” the ruling read.

“But ‘neither [the State] nor the public has any interest in enforcing a regulation that violates federal law,'” the ruling read, citing related cases. “Indeed, ‘[i]njunctions protecting First Amendment freedoms are always in the public interest.’ Because Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of their First Amendment claim, the State and the public won’t be injured by an injunction of a statute that likely violates the First Amendment.”

The lawsuit was initially brought by Austin bookseller BookPeople, Houston bookseller Blue Willow Bookshop, the Association of American Publishers, the Authors Guild, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and the American Booksellers Association.

“With this historic decision the court has moved decisively to ensure the constitutionally protected speech of authors, booksellers, publishers, and readers, and prevent the state government from unlawfully compelling speech on the part of private citizens,” the plaintiffs said in a joint statement Wednesday night. “The court’s decision also shields Texas businesses from the imposition of impossibly onerous conditions, protects the basic constitutional rights of the plaintiffs, and lets Texas parents make decisions for their own children without government interference or control. This is a good day for bookstores, readers, and free expression.”

Laura Prather, chair of the media practice group at law firm Haynes & Boone, was the lead attorney representing the plaintiffs.

“One of the plaintiffs in this case did an analysis of how much it would cost to rate just the prior books that it had sold to Texas schools,” she said. “And that estimate…was between $4 million and $500 million, which would have put the bookseller out of business.”

KXAN reached out to the case’s defendants for comment: Texas State Library and Archives Commission Chair Martha Wong, Texas State Board of Education Chair Keven Ellis and Texas Education Agency Mike Morath. This story will be updated if responses are received.