Sonia Sotomayor Presses Attorney About Books With Interracial Couples In LGBTQ+ Book Ban Case

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During Tuesday's oral arguments for 'Mahmoud v. Taylor' Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor questioned an attorney about books relating to family life.

Transcript

00:00Mr. Sotomayor.

00:01The injunction here, sought by defendants, asks for two things.

00:06Parents notice an opportunity to opt their children out of reading,

00:11listening to, or discussing the Pride storybooks.

00:16The injunction presumably would require what you say is not required,

00:20to take the books off the shelf, correct?

00:23No, I don't think that's what they're requesting at all,

00:24and petitioners seem to have disclaimed that.

00:26Petitioners are saying they would like the ability to—

00:29They basically want the status quo—

00:30To opt out from forcing the child to read the book.

00:33So they want the child to be—

00:33But that's not the words used here.

00:35Yes, they want the child to be outside of the classroom if they are exposed to the book.

00:39They want the status quo ante that Montgomery County previously offered.

00:41All right, so—but you're not objecting either to having the books on the bookshelf in the classroom.

00:46We don't understand that to be the claim here.

00:49All right.

00:49Now, they also ask the court to, quote,

00:51And join defendants from denying them advance notice and opportunity to opt their children out of any other instruction

01:00related to family life or human sexuality that violates the parents' or their children's religious beliefs.

01:09Is that an enforceable injunction?

01:11Is that an enforceable injunction?

01:13I don't know what related to family life would mean.

01:16It could be any picture, any book that talks about people getting married.

01:24Interracial couples.

01:25I think it's defined by the contours of their particular claim

01:28and by the way in which Montgomery County and the state of Maryland have defined topics.

01:31We require injunctions to be more precise than that.

01:35I think regardless of how the court feels with respect to the specificity of this injunction,

01:40it seems pretty definite in the context of the case.

01:43And with respect to the question presented,

01:44whether there is a burden if parents are not able to have the advance notice of opt-out of the material

01:50that their religious obligations prohibit, that's a clear burden.

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