Two Escambia County School Board members elected last year have gone to a federal appeals court as they seek to be shielded from testifying in a long-running legal battle about removing or restricting access to books in school libraries.
Attorneys for board members Carissa Bergosh and Tom Harrell on Tuesday filed a notice that is a first step in asking the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a decision issued last week by U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell.
The appeal stems from a lawsuit filed in 2023 by parents, authors, the publishing company Penguin Random House and the free speech group PEN American Center, Inc., challenging decisions by the school board to remove or restrict access to books.The lawsuit alleges the decisions violated the First Amendment.
Wetherell earlier rejected arguments by five current and former board members that they should be shielded from testifying because of a legal concept known as “legislative privilege.” Those five current and former members have filed an appeal at the Atlanta-based appeals court.
Separately, Bergosh and Harrell, who were elected after the lawsuit had started, also contended they should not have to testify because of legislative privilege. After Wetherell ruled against Bergosh and Harrell, their attorneys launched the appeal on Tuesday.
Escambia County has been a battleground in recent years as school districts in various parts of Florida have removed or restricted access to books.
The underlying lawsuit against the Escambia County board remains unresolved amid the battles about legislative privilege.
The lawsuit alleges that the school board removed or restricted access to books “based on its disagreements with the ideas expressed in those books” and that the decisions “disproportionately targeted books by or about people of color and/or LGBTQ people.”
