Andrew Albanese writes: “In a major victory for freedom to read advocates, the Fifth Circuit of the US Court of Appeals on January 17 upheld a lower court decision to block key provisions of House Bill 900, Texas’s controversial book rating law, finding that the law likely violated First Amendment protections against compelled speech. The court remanded the case to the district court but affirmed Judge Alan D. Albright’s August 31 decision to block Texas Education Agency commissioner Mike Morath from enforcing the book rating provision of the law. Texas State Representative Jared Patterson, the author of the law, urged the state to continue its appeal.”