Social Movements & the Law

What happens when large language models are asked to provide justifications for book bans? Do the same built-in guardrails that prevent them from generating ...

From the Des Moines Register: The small farming community of Alta in northwest Iowa barely has 2,000 residents. The elementary school that shares its name has fewer than 300 students. Neither is big enough to have a quality library on its own. So for the last 20 years, the two have operated a library together, […]

PEN America, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization dedicated to free expression through literature, has created a dataset tracking books banned or restricted in school classrooms and libraries in the United States from July 2021 to March 2022. The dataset contains the book’s name and author, the schoo

From a Joint Announcement (via Harvard Library): The HBCU Library Alliance and Harvard Library this week announced a project to sustain and deepen capacity for the digitization, discovery, and preservation of African American history collections held in HBCU libraries and archives. Harvard’s support for the HBCU Library Alliance’s ongoing work is a step in addressing […]

UPDATED POST: A Tip Sheet for Librarians Facing Harassment (via PEN America) This guidance is intended to equip librarians with strategies to navigate online abuse. While this resource acknowledges the ways that online abuse can move offline, it is primarily focused on digital safety. For a discussion of physical safety in libraries, see: “We Need […]

The ABA Journal is read by half of the nation's 1 million lawyers every month. It covers the trends, people and finances of the legal profession from Wall Street to Main Street to Pennsylvania Avenue.

From The Chicago Tribune: Last week, city and Chicago Public Library officials declared Chicago a sanctuary city for those stories, by establishing “Book Sanctuaries” across the city’s 77 distinct community areas and 81 library branches. That entails a commitment to expand local access to banned or challenged books through library programming. [Clip] Chicago Public Library […]

A document viewed by 404 Media describes ICE's plans to incorporate data from the Department of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) into a tool called ATrac.

Potential cuts to staff and construction funds for the state library system also come amid ongoing uncertainty around federal support.

I crossed the US-Canadian border recently with some new tactics to limit my risk of detention on return. Here is what worked for me.

U.S. District Court Judge Douglas Rayes dismissed a challenge to a 2021 statute that makes it illegal to perform an abortion because of fetal defects.

The governor announced that she is placing a moratorium on any bill transmitted to her until she gets a version of House Bill 2945 that she can agree with.

Actions attack funding and accreditation but also seek to increase affordability and retention at Black colleges

The threat of federal funding loss for Arizona becomes more salient by the day as the Arizona Department of Education probes for compliance.

‘Clear premise’ was to give trans and biological women same sex discrimination rights, says official who helped draft act

A new survey finds that even as employers pull back on some DEI programs, the budget for diversity work has not radically shifted at many companies.

Three law students on Tuesday sued a U.S. civil rights agency, claiming that its probe into diversity policies at 20 large law firms is illegal and could

Introduction: From Gold Standard to “Culture & Engagement” For years, Reed Smith was celebrated as a diversity champion in BigLaw. The firm consistently earned accolades from the Women In Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF) and touted its DEI milestones in public-facing content. But in a dramatic shift, the global firm has announced that it is “retiring” […]

Six strategies for mobilizing, engaging, and connecting with others.

As a civil rights attorney, your impact extends far beyond individual cases and courtroom victories. You stand at the forefront...

Montana State Library officials are cautiously optimistic that an annual grant that benefits public libraries across the state will be fully funded amid turmoil at the federal agency that distributes the money.

The staff of the Institute of Museum and Library Services was placed on administrative leave Monday morning, following a meeting between IMLS leadership and DOGE staff.

In a March 24 letter, the National Museum and Library Services Board laid out the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ statutory obligations for its acting director, Keith Sonderling, as supporters continued to speak out on behalf of the embattled federal agency.

To fairly reward talent in all its forms, companies need to remove barriers that prevent people’s potential and contributions from being recognized.

The Trump administration is facing a new legal challenge to President Donald Trump’s executive orders (EOs) to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and initiatives after a group of diversity officers, professors, and restaurant worker advocates filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Maryland on February 3, 2025, alleging the orders are vague and unconstitutional. Meanwhile, the U.S. Attorney General and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued memoranda on February 5, 2025, to implement the orders and guide federal agencies on their scope.

How you communicate about your policies can be just as important as what those policies are.

The AAUP, along with the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education and other plaintiffs has filed a lawsuit to block Trump’s unlawful and unconstitutional DEI executive orders,

A Sarah Jessica Parker-produced documentary on the brave librarians fighting a wave of rightwing book bans has sparked conversation at Sundance

Two new reports provide a mixed but compelling outlook on the wave of book removals and challenges as the annual Banned Books Week begins for schools, stores and libraries nationwide.

On September 10, 2024, AAP and allies filed a second amicus brief in support of Texas public library patron plaintiffs in Little v. Llano County following the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ order of a full court rehearing of its June 6, 2024 decision. That earlier decision largely—but not entirely—upheld a preliminary injunction against the unconstitutional […]