Federal court hears oral arguments in appeal of Arkansas’ library obscenity law; Arkansas Advocate, June 11, 2026

 TESS VRBIN, Arkansas Advocate; Federal court hears oral arguments in appeal of Arkansas’ library obscenity law

"A federal appeals court heard arguments Thursday to uphold the injunction of a 2023 Arkansas law governing challenges to library content, while Arkansas’ solicitor general said the plaintiffs’ allegations were “too speculative.”

The three-judge panel from the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis will rule on whether two sections of Act 372 of 2023 can go into effect. A district judge blocked the provisions in 2024, and the state appealed the ruling in 2025.

The two challenged sections would create criminal liability for librarians who distribute content that some consider “obscene” or “harmful to minors,” and give city and county governing bodies the final say over library content.

The 18 plaintiffs in the case include libraries, bookstores, advocacy groups and individual library patrons. The defendants are Arkansas’ 28 prosecuting attorneys, Crawford County and its county judge, Chris Keith.

Crawford County lost another federal lawsuit in 2024 after three parents claimed the county library violated the First Amendment by moving LGBTQ+ children’s books into separate “social sections” that only adults could access."

Arkansas begins new search for ‘monument to the unborn’ design after artist seeks copyright; Arkansas Advocate, January 13, 2026

TESS VRBIN, Arkansas Advocate; Arkansas begins new search for ‘monument to the unborn’ design after artist seeks copyright

"Efforts to build a “monument to the unborn” on the state Capitol grounds advocated by abortion opponents hit a new stumbling block Tuesday when the secretary of state began looking for new designs for the memorial.

The Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission voted with no dissent to allow Secretary of State Cole Jester to accept new submissions for the monument after the artist it selected in late 2023 applied for a federal copyright for her design. Jester said that move would interfere with the state’s efforts to market the anti-abortion monument.

“We couldn’t sell a Christmas tree ornament with it,” Jester said. “We couldn’t do so many things, and it would be very problematic.”...

The commission had previously selected artist Lakey Goff’s idea of a “living wall” of flora and fauna for the monument and accepted her suggestion to place it in the grassy space behind the Capitol and to the north of the Supreme Court building...

She wanted to copyright her proposal so it would remain “true to my original inspiration and design, which came from the Lord, the Holy Spirit,” she said.

The proposal had an estimated $900,000 price tag, and Goff said in August 2025 that she expected to have raised a total of $100,000 for the project by the end of October. Act 310 of 2023 established a trust fund to raise money through private gifts, grants and donations, and fundraising for the project began in May 2024...

Commissioner Stephen Bright, a former state representative and the Secretary of State’s Chief Taxpayer Services Officer, told the New York Times last year that he hoped to change the design to reduce its cost to about $700,000. The design would be unchangeable once copyrighted."