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1st Amendment

Public schools in Leander, Texas pre-emptively remove classic works of literature from school curriculum without review

By |2025-10-07T17:02:18-04:00October 1st, 2025|News|

Updated 10.7.25 – According to local reports from Leander, thirty-six of the forty books have been returned to the school curriculum and any books removed restricted or removed from classroom libraries are to be returned. The administration of Leander ISD in Texas has temporarily pulled and placed on hold around forty book titles from curriculum and classroom libraries ostensibly to [...]

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Advocacy Isn’t Terrorism: The Executive Order That Threatens Political Dissent

By |2025-10-01T14:05:35-04:00September 26th, 2025|News, Statement|

Yesterday, the administration announced a new Executive Order titled "Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence." This broad Order ostensibly instructs the National Joint Terrorism Task Force to investigate and prosecute crimes by groups it suspects of perpetrating political violence. But the fine print is immense cause for concern. The Order defines political violence as the "culmination of sophisticated, [...]

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NCAC Joins FIRE, SPJ, and SPLC in Calling Out Institute of American Indian Arts Over Free Speech Violation

By |2025-10-01T13:55:47-04:00September 26th, 2025|Legal Advocacy, News|

Credit: Ponic Photography The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) signed on to a coalition letter led by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), alongside the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) and the Student Press Law Center (SPLC). We urge newly appointed Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) President Shelly Lowe to reverse sanctions [...]

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The Rise of the Federal Censorship Commission (FCC)

By |2025-09-18T17:00:38-04:00September 18th, 2025|News, Statement|

Just eight months ago, President Trump rode into office on the promise of ending censorship, cancel culture, and the use of government power to pressure private individuals and companies into doing its bidding. Eight months have brought a full 180-degree revolution from free speech defender to censor-in-chief. As an organization committed to protecting the freedom of thought, inquiry, and expression, the [...]

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Escambia Schools Consider Removing Book Review Committee in Favor of Superintendent Oversight

By |2025-09-17T09:26:55-04:00September 16th, 2025|News|

The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the school board of Escambia County Public Schools to object to proposed revisions to the School Board Policy Manual on challenged materials. The changes would eliminate the review committee and allow the superintendent alone to review challenged materials and recommend actions to the school board. Read NCAC's full letter to the Escambia [...]

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NCAC opposes policy changes for review committees and material challenge procedures in Duval County Public Schools

By |2025-09-10T15:14:17-04:00September 2nd, 2025|News|

UPDATE 9/06/2025: Following NCAC's letter, the Duval Public School attorney recommended the district reject the proposed policy.  The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the Duval County Public School Board about their proposed revisions to school policy on challenged materials. NCAC opposes the proposed policy changes to include both the implementation of book removal requirements pursuant to Florida [...]

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Free Speech on Trial: NCAC Joins FIRE and others to Defend Student’s Right to Dissent

By |2025-08-29T15:03:19-04:00August 29th, 2025|Legal Advocacy|

The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) has joined Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), the Rutherford Institute, the Cato Institute, and the First Amendment Lawyers Association in filing an amicus curiae brief before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. This critical case, Ozturk v. Hyde, raises profound questions about the scope of free expression in [...]

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Leading U.S. Cultural and Historical Associations Condemn Executive Overreach

By |2025-09-12T11:17:39-04:00August 29th, 2025|News|

The recent letter from the White House, demanding a review of Smithsonian activities in the lead-up to the 250th anniversary of the United States, signals a dangerous new chapter in the politicization of cultural institutions. The administration not only questioned the Smithsonian’s programming but also issued a list of specific exhibits and content it found objectionable. In doing so, it [...]

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Behold the Fall of “American Greatness” at the Smithsonian Institution

By |2025-08-19T11:45:42-04:00August 7th, 2025|News, Statement|

UPDATE 8/11/2025: VICTORY! On August 8, 2025, the Smithsonian Institution reportedly installed a new display label acknowledging President Trump's two impeachments. The substance of the wall label is largely the same as the text in the temporary label that had been removed, though uses slightly softer language. As an organization committed to protecting the freedom of thought, inquiry, and [...]

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NCAC Joins Allies in Netchoice v. Fitch

By |2025-08-04T13:49:23-04:00August 4th, 2025|Legal Advocacy, News|

NCAC has joined FIRE and other free expression organizations in filing an amicus brief in the case of Netchoice v. Fitch, a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Mississippi H.B. 1126 under the First Amendment. This statute requires social media platforms to verify the age of all users and forbids platforms to permit minors to create accounts unless they have obtained consent [...]

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Cancellation of American Sublime Lays Bare Reality of New Censorship Era

By |2025-07-25T11:04:23-04:00July 25th, 2025|News|

As an organization committed to protecting the freedom of thought, inquiry, and expression, the National Coalition Against Censorship is alarmed by reports that the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery proposed amending the planned display of a painting because of fears that the work would attract the ire of President Donald Trump. The action is one more disturbing sign of [...]

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NCAC files amicus brief in Netchoice v. Paxton

By |2025-07-15T12:07:08-04:00July 10th, 2025|Legal Advocacy, News|

NCAC has filed an amicus brief in the consolidated cases of NetChoice v. Paxton and Students Engaged in Advancing Texas v. Paxton, lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of Texas HB 18 under the First Amendment. This statute restricts certain digital platforms from permitting users under the age of 18 to access content that is obscene as to minors or “promotes, glorifies, or facilitates” [...]

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NEW TRAVEL BAN WILL HAVE COMPOUNDING EFFECTS ON CULTURE IN THE US

By |2025-06-30T13:44:41-04:00June 30th, 2025|News|

The Trump administration’s latest travel ban went into effect this month, affecting travel from 19 countries. It bars entry to citizens of Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, and places significant visa restrictions on nationals of Burundi, Cuba, Laos,  Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela. Though it was [...]

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113 book titles banned from libraries at Knox County Schools in Tennessee

By |2025-06-17T11:33:28-04:00June 17th, 2025|News|

In May, Knox County Schools ordered school libraries to remove 65 book titles from their shelves to comply with Tennessee's Age-Appropriate Materials Act, bringing the total number of titles removed to 113 since December 2024. The large number of books removed raises concerns that the criteria being applied to judge books are overly broad and subjective.  The National Coalition Against [...]

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Amicus Advocacy in the Age of Retaliation

By |2025-06-11T14:18:54-04:00June 11th, 2025|Legal Advocacy, News|

Since returning to office in January, President Trump has repeatedly abused his executive power in an attempt to silence those who dare to challenge his administration’s agenda. This spring, the administration issued executive orders imposing sanctions on certain major law firms in retaliation for their advocacy on behalf of clients and issues disfavored by the President. Among other major [...]

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Over 600 books removed from Hillsborough County Public Schools libraries in Florida

By |2025-06-03T15:23:29-04:00June 3rd, 2025|News|

Under pressure from the Florida Attorney General, the Superintendent of Hillsborough County Public Schools ordered the removal of 6 titles and temporarily removed over 600 more for review for alleged sexual content.  The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the school board to urge them to return the books to the shelves and keep them there until they [...]

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Virginia’s Rockingham County Public Schools Removes Library Books Contrary to the Recommendations of a Review Committee

By |2025-05-27T12:15:28-04:00May 27th, 2025|News|

The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the school board of Rockingham County Public Schools after school board members voted to remove Tweak: Growing up on Methamphetamines by Nic Sheff, and Perfect by Ellen Hopkins. The School Board overrode the recommendation of a review committee to retain these books and voted 4-1 to permanently remove them.  NCAC is [...]

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Trump Administration’s Firing of Dr. Carla Hayden: Fifty-two Publishing, Library, Free Expression, and Civil Society Groups Call on Congress to Intervene

By |2025-06-17T10:57:12-04:00May 19th, 2025|News|

We, the undersigned, write to condemn the unjust firing of Dr. Carla Hayden, who has served as Librarian of Congress since 2016. Dr. Hayden’s firing is an assault on our freedoms to access and pursue knowledge. This mirrors the recent attacks on the freedom to read books, the authors who create them, and our vast public network of public [...]

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19 Organizations Urge Florida House of Representatives to Reject HB 1539

By |2025-06-09T16:24:15-04:00April 23rd, 2025|News|

Today, 19 organizations, including the National Coalition Against Censorship, sent a letter to the Florida House of Representatives urging them to vote no on H.B. 1539. The bill, if enacted, would require school districts to remove any instructional or library material challenged as “harmful to minors” within just five days, regardless of whether the material has been properly reviewed. The [...]

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NCAC Defends Fairhope Library’s Freedom to Read | Updated

By |2025-05-01T16:49:34-04:00April 7th, 2025|News|

Update 4/30/2025 – Despite the ongoing suspension of state funding, the Fairhope Public Library has followed proper a proper review policy and decided to retain two challenged books in the teen section. The National Coalition Against Censorship is urging Alabama officials to restore funding to Fairhope Public Library after it was penalized over complaints about young adult books. NCAC [...]

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DAYLO – Words That Empower, Voices That Matter

By |2025-04-04T16:12:42-04:00April 4th, 2025|News|

Patrick Good and E Achurch are both high school students living in Beaufort, South Carolina. While they come from different backgrounds and schools, both Good and Achurch are student leaders in the Diversity Awareness Youth Literacy Organization (DAYLO). Founded in 2021, DAYLO has expanded to include chapters across South Carolina, including 5 chapters in Beaufort County. As the only [...]

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CENSORED ARTISTS AND THEIR STORIES: MICHELLE HARTNEY

By |2025-04-03T16:21:48-04:00April 3rd, 2025|Artist Feature|

In March of 2023 Michelle Hartney’s collaborative mixed media installation work titled Unplanned Parenthood was met with censorship in Idaho. In March 2025, calls for censoring the work nearly succeeded again in Illinois. Hartney met with ACAP Director Elizabeth Larison and shared more about the project, and why she believes some audiences are afraid of its powerful message. He [...]

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Updated | In Tennessee, Rutherford County public libraries vote to remove materials that promote transgender themes.

By |2025-06-05T11:03:48-04:00March 31st, 2025|News|

Update 5/5/2025 — Following public outcry and opposition from free speech advocates, the Rutherford County Library System Board voted unanimously to reverse their policy banning materials promoting transgender themes. In Tennessee, The Rutherford County Library System has approved a measure to remove all library "material that promotes, encourages, advocates for or normalizes" transgender themes. The National Coalition Against Censorship [...]

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Executive Order Threatens to Reduce Smithsonian Institutions and National Park Service to Platforms for Nationalist Propaganda

By |2025-07-09T16:41:22-04:00March 28th, 2025|News|

UPDATE 7/9/2025: The Trump administration is calling for the review of an exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. The exhibition, which has been on view since 2022 and is titled Entertainment Nation, critiques and examines the entertainment industry and its influence on culture and social life by contextualizing works on view with relevant cultural and historical [...]

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NCAC Condemns Rhode Island School of Art and Design Decision to Shut Down Public Access to an Art Exhibit on Political Resistance, Citing Vague “safety concerns.”

By |2025-03-28T12:09:57-04:00March 28th, 2025|News|

NCAC is alarmed to learn of the Rhode Island School of Art and Design’s decision to close its public campus cafe, which had been hosting To Every Orange Tree, a group exhibition of student, faculty, and community members’ work on themes of “political resistance, anti-imperialism, and Palestinian liberation.” RISD administrators claimed that “unofficial complaints” about the exhibition led to unspecified “safety [...]

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Siuslaw School District Removes Graphic Novel Flamer From the High School Library

By |2025-03-27T12:53:05-04:00March 27th, 2025|News|

In Florence, Oregon, the Siuslaw School District has removed the graphic novel Flamer from the high school library despite a review committee's recommendation to keep it. The School Board overrode the committee and voted 4-3 to remove it permanently. The National Coalition Against Censorship wrote to the board to urge them to reconsider their decision and return the Flamer back [...]

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Three Graphic Novels Removed from Radnor High School Library in Pennsylvania | Updated

By |2025-04-25T14:13:54-04:00March 24th, 2025|News|

Update 4/25/25 – After significant public outcry, the Radnor Township School Board reversed course and voted to return all three graphic novels to school library shelves.  The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the Radnor Township School District following their removal of three graphic novels from the Radnor High School library.  Alison Bechdel's Fun Home, Maia Kobabe's Gender Queer, and Craig [...]

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NCAC And Other Organizations Join FIRE in Filing an Amicus Brief in Support of Mahmoud Khalil

By |2025-06-12T11:26:15-04:00March 20th, 2025|Legal Advocacy, News|

Today, NCAC, along with our partners at PEN America, the Rutherford Foundation, and the First Amendment Lawyers Association, joined an amicus brief written and filed by The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) in urging the court to uphold Mohamad Khalil’s First Amendment rights and release him from detention. In an era where political speech and academic freedom [...]

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NCAC Decries Miami Beach’s Retaliation Against O Cinema for Screening Acclaimed Documentary

By |2025-03-21T13:28:06-04:00March 18th, 2025|News, Statement|

UPDATE 03/20/2025: Following a City Commission meeting which revealed that the Mayor’s proposal to evict O Cinema and rescind its municipal funding did not have adequate votes to pass, the Mayor rescinded the measure. The decision came after an outpouring of support for the independent theater, and its right to program its offerings without government interference. Today the National [...]

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574 Books Removed from Monroe Country School Libraries in TN

By |2025-03-17T11:45:47-04:00March 17th, 2025|News|

Monroe County Schools in Tennessee may have improperly ordered the removal of 574 books from school libraries,  in response to Tennessee's Age-Appropriate Materials Act, which considers certain books as inappropriate for students, before any formal complaints were filed.  The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the school board to urge them to return all 574 books to school [...]

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NCAC Expressed Deep Concern Over DOE’s Recent “Dear Colleague” Letter on Race and Teaching Practices

By |2025-03-06T16:56:59-05:00March 6th, 2025|News, Statement|

The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) is deeply concerned by the recent “Dear Colleague Letter” issued by the U.S. Department of Education, which targets and seeks to restrict the teaching of certain race-related concepts in classrooms. This letter claims to address discrimination by eliminating race-based preferences while also targeting 'indoctrination' and the teaching of DEI concepts. While we share [...]

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National Free Speech and Art Organizations Warn of a “Golden Age” of Propaganda and a “Starvation Age” for Culture

By |2025-03-19T13:58:29-04:00February 26th, 2025|Letters, News|

Today, the National Coalition Against Censorship, The Authors Guild, The Dramatists Guild of America, The Dramatists Legal Defense Fund, Artists at Risk Connection, AICA International and PEN America expressed deep concern over the Trump Administration’s recent moves to impose ideological control over federally funded cultural programs. Though some of these efforts have already been hindered by a court injunction, [...]

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NCAC Along With FIRE and ACLU-TX Demand Fort Worth Police Return Artwork Confiscated From Museum

By |2025-04-16T12:20:24-04:00February 19th, 2025|News, Press Releases|

FORT WORTH, Feb. 19, 2025 — A trio of civil liberty organizations are speaking up today to demand the Fort Worth Police Department end its unconstitutional censorship and seizure of several pieces of art that were on display at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, National Coalition Against Censorship, and the [...]

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NCAC Join Over 40 Organizations in Condemning Trump Administration’s Executive Order Targeting Transgender, Intersex, Nonbinary, and Gender-Nonconforming Americans

By |2025-02-06T12:11:09-05:00February 6th, 2025|Statement|

On January 20, the White House issued an executive order stating that the United States government will only recognize two sexes, male and female, as defined “at conception.” The ripple effect of this order will undoubtedly affect public schools, public libraries, and the literature that is shelved in both. Among the many harms it causes, the order targeting transgender, [...]

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NCAC Alarmed by Mayoral Order to Censor an Art Billboard Associated With Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts

By |2025-02-03T16:58:24-05:00February 3rd, 2025|News|

The National Coalition Against Censorship is dismayed by the news of the premature removal of an art billboard that is part of a temporary project with the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, shortly after Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed called for its deinstallation. The billboard shows a 1965 Spider Martin photograph of state troopers staring down Black civil rights protesters [...]

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Orwellian Overreach: NCAC Fights Back Against Administration’s Dangerous Attempt to Censor Classrooms

By |2025-01-30T14:03:15-05:00January 30th, 2025|News, Statement|

The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) strongly condemns the recent Executive Order signed by President Trump that aims to censor the teaching of race, gender, and identity in American schools, entitled “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling.” Make no mistake, this Executive Order is not about ending supposed indoctrination in our schools— it is itself designed to indoctrinate and [...]

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Statement from the Kids’ Right to Read Project on the U.S. Department of Education’s Dismissal of Book Bans as a “Hoax”

By |2025-01-27T12:26:21-05:00January 27th, 2025|News|

The Kids’ Right to Read Project (KRRP), a signature initiative of the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), has been at the forefront of defending the freedom to read for over 20 years. We condemn the recent actions by the U.S. Department of Education in dismissing complaints about book bans and referring to these challenges to access as a "hoax." [...]

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NCAC Condemns Chicago City Council’s Efforts to Censor Art Exhibition Criticizing Government Actions

By |2025-02-03T15:58:35-05:00January 24th, 2025|News|

January 23, 2025 — Today, the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) expressed alarm at Chicago city councilmembers’ attempts to censor political artwork on view in an exhibition at the Chicago Cultural Center. Government officials’ efforts to silence speech because of distaste for its political position raise acute First Amendment concerns. The artwork in question is a massive, two-sided papier-mache puppet [...]

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NCAC Statement on President Trump’s Executive Order “Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship”

By |2025-01-22T13:44:47-05:00January 21st, 2025|News, Statement|

Yesterday, President Trump signed an Executive Order entitled “Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship.” The Executive Order aims to inhibit the government's ability to censor–or pressure private companies to censor–constitutionally protected speech. The National Coalition Against Censorship has long argued that the government should never use its power to pressure companies to censor voices that the government [...]

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As Concerns of Art Censorship Rise in Nation’s Museums, NCAC Encourages Museum Directors, Curators, and other Cultural Leaders to Employ its Best Practices

By |2025-01-17T14:17:22-05:00January 17th, 2025|In The News, Press Releases|

New York, January 16, 2025 – In the wake of a newly-released report warning of censorship pressures faced by museum directors across the US conducted by the Association for Art Museum Directors, PEN America, and Artists at Risk Connection, the National Coalition Against Censorship encourages cultural leaders to incorporate its Museum Best Practices for Managing Controversy into museum policies. [...]

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