SCASL v. Weaver

In October 2025, South Carolina public school librarians and students filed a lawsuit asking a federal court to block enforcement of the state’s unconstitutional book banning regulation and a classroom censorship memo issued by the state education superintendent.

The lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of Regulation 43-170, which bans all materials in kindergarten through 12th grade public schools if they contain descriptions or depictions of “sexual conduct.” This regulation, which was promoted by Superintendent Ellen Weaver and took effect in June 2024, led to the banning or restriction of 22 books statewide — the largest number of state-mandated school book bans in any state, according to PEN America. (See the full list of books below.)

The lawsuit also challenges a memorandum issued by Superintendent Weaver on March 14, 2025, that requires state employees to indoctrinate students according to the superintendent’s views on sex, gender, race, and American exceptionalism. The memo prohibits 14 ideas and concepts from S.C. Department of Education materials, including “implicit bias,” “restorative justice,” “cisgender,” and “social-emotional learning,” although it notes that its list of taboo concepts is “not exhaustive.”

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are the South Carolina Association of School Librarians (SCASL) and three minor public school students. The suit challenges the superintendent’s censorship regime under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

To quote the landmark 1943 Supreme Court case West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette, this case is about a government official — in this case the head of the public school system — seeking to “prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, [or] religion” and to “strangle the free mind at its source.”

In addition to the 22 books removed or restricted statewide, local interpretations of Regulation 43-170 have sown chaos and confusion among school employees. The regulation has also been cited as the justification for the following restrictions on students’ freedom to receive information:

• Some teachers across the state have stopped keeping classroom libraries after a clause in Regulation 43-170 required them to catalog all books held in their classrooms.
• Under what the lawsuit describes as “a culture of fear among school librarians,” some school librarians have stopped purchasing fiction books for their collections and have begun preemptively removing books that they worry might be challenged.
• The Berkeley County School District blocked student access to Discus, a free online education and research collection provided by the State Library. After public outcry, the district restored access for high school students only at the start of the 2025-2026 school year.
• The Beaufort County School District has restricted access to nine additional books that now require parental permission for a student to access them, including The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, and The Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell. Some of these books are routinely assigned in Advanced Placement courses.
• Districts including the Fort Mill School District have removed or restricted student access to county libraries’ digital collections via the Sora application rather than risk the possibility that students might access materials that describe “sexual conduct.”

The following books have been removed from all South Carolina public school classrooms and libraries under Regulation 43-170 as of October 2025, regardless of grade level:

• All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson
• Collateral by Ellen Hopkins
• A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas
• A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
• A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
• A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
• Damsel by Elana Arnold
• Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas
• Flamer by Mike Curato
• Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Hopeless by Colleen Hoover
• Identical by Ellen Hopkins
• Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas
• Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
• Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott
• Lucky by Alice Sebold
• Normal People by Sally Rooney
• Push by Sapphire
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
• Tricks by Ellen Hopkins
• Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover

Additionally, the State Board of Education has restricted access to Ellen Hopkins' novel Crank. The book remains in high school libraries, but a parent or guardian must fill out an opt-in form for a student to borrow it.

We filed this case in federal court on October 7, 2025.