State's Rejection of 'Left-Leaning' Textbook Not Censorship, Says Attorney
by Jim Brown
December 27, 2005
(AgapePress) - - A constitutional attorney is hailing a recent decision by the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a Texas high school student and the author of a science textbook that some conservatives says is riddled with errors. The suit alleged that the Texas Board of Education had violated the free-speech clause of the First Amendment when it refused to approve an environmental science textbook for state funding. But the Fifth Circuit held that there was not First Amendment right at issue. According to Steve Crampton, chief counsel with the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy, when a textbook is selected and then implemented in a state school system, it becomes the public speech of the state itself -- not the private speech of the author.
"What you have is really a left-leaning textbook author who was suggesting that the root cause of environmental problems is economic growth," says Crampton, adding that in his opinion the state was right when it "rejected that view and ... said that's just not the view we want to promote to our students."
Although the plaintiffs argued the state school board was in violation of the Supreme Court's 1988 Hazelwood decision against viewpoint discrimination, the attorney notes the Hazelwood ruling does not apply in this case.
"It's not a censorship kind of issue. It's not saying that your book can't be taught," he explains. "It's merely saying we're not going to pay for it with our tax money if we disagree fundamentally with the approach that it takes on a given issue. That's wholly appropriate."
Crampton says the ruling is a victory for conservatives and those who favor a "common-sense approach" to the textbook selection process.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
