They’re not banning you from selling, buying, owning, or reading the book, so it’s not an obvious first amendment issue.

They’re creating policies for which books various government institutions can use tax money to buy and make available.

They just happen to be targeting books that recognize the existence of minorities, which is shitty.

Bans often rely on the obscenity exception to the 1st Amendment:

https://constitution.findlaw.com/amendment1/first-amendment-limits--obscenity.html

SCOTUS has never given a clear, well-defined, repeatable test to say exactly what "obscenity" even means, so local jurisdictions are free to push the envelope.

If that sounds like a pile of bullshit waiting to be exploited, yes, and that's exactly why we're seeing this happening.

Most of these bans are not about banning those books in general, they are about not making them available in schools or public libraries. The government can decide what to promote in its own institutions. People can still get those books from elsewhere: they can buy them online or in physical bookstores.

In the Netherlands, only one book I know of used to be banned (maybe it still is). The publishing rights of the work in question were claimed by the state in this instance, and they refused to allow publication of the book. The book in question was the Dutch translation of Hitlers "Mein Kampf".

The first ammendment isn't unlimited there are a fair amount of restrictions. The ones that are allowed follow strict scrutiny, which is basically a two part test. There must be a compelling state interest, AND the law must use the least restive means possible to achieve that interest.

Most these book bans likely don't meet that standard. They are allowed to exist because they are considered valid until ruled otherwise. To overrule these bans it would be required for someone to have standing that they are materially harmed by the ban. This is how most bans will stay, as proving someone has standing is pretty difficult in this case.

When we talk about the legality of banning something, those laws are often on the federal level and apply to federal institutions. If an institution is state- or county-funded, they can have their own rules.

There's a difference between a book being

• banned from curriculum
• banned from a school library
• requiring parental / guardian permission to be checked out (usually for x rated content)
• being outright "banned"

No right is unlimited.

As long as they don't come for internet access, kids can get around book bans with things like Libby.

What's that? Republicans are proposing an internet book ban bill call KOSA? Well good thing we have divided goverment. It will never pass.

Wait? Biden is supporting it? Well, that doesn't mean... wait, Elizabeth Warren is a cosposonser? Wtf?

They didn't ban books. That's just fake news.