SEYMOUR — A federal judge has ruled that the Jackson County Public Library’s decision to ban a patron for life over a poem he wrote and dropped off at the library critical of former President Donald Trump was unconstitutional.
In a decision filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana on March 31, Chief Judge Tanya Walton Pratt found that the library “violated and is violating” a Jackson County man’s rights under the First and 14th amendments by permanently banning him “for exercising protected speech.”
The lawsuit, filed in January 2021, stems from an incident that occurred on Nov. 16, 2020, when plaintiff Richard England, 68, of Jackson County, visited the Seymour library branch to return several items and check out some DVDs, according to court filings.
That day, England also brought an original poem that he had composed, titled “The Red Mean,” which he intended to give to a library employee “with whom he was friendly.”
However, the employee whom England wanted to give the poem to was not there at that time. As a result, England decided to leave the poem in a basket on the circulation desk, which contained medical face masks for library patrons, and then left the library without incident.
The poem reads: “Know no good, bring out your dead, let them eat cake, off with your head. Before you become Donald Trump’s clone, know Satan’s reward, is only a loan. Liars are losers, haters are cruel, oh what a pity, to die such a fool.”
England claimed in court filings that he had written he poem to “express (his) belief that the politicization of the COVID-19 pandemic by then-President Trump and his followers, including their apparent opposition to rudimentary safety measures … was leading and would continue to lead to the unnecessary loss of life.”
The title of the poem was a reference to “the character of ‘the Red Queen’ in Alice in Wonderland,” England said.
But library staff had a very different interpretation of the poem, court records show.
About 15 to 30 minutes after England left, a library employee found the poem inside the basket while providing a mask to a patron. The employee “was scared after reading the poem” and believed it contained threatening language, “particularly its references to death and Satan.”
The employee then gave the poem to her supervisor, who “was shocked, scared and confused.” The supervisor then gave the poem the library administrator, who said that that when she spoke to staff “(their) voices were shaking. They were really upset.”
“This fear was enhanced by the political climate surrounding the 2020 election and anxiety surrounding the pandemic,” the library stated in court filings.
The poem was unsigned, but staff determined that England had put the poem in the basket after reviewing video surveillance footage.
When England returned home, there was a voicemail waiting for him from a Seymour police officer, who informed him that he was “banned from the library for the rest of his life, and that, if he returned to the library, he would be arrested for criminal trespass.”
England then went to the Seymour Police Department and spoke with the officer who left the voicemail, who informed him again of the ban and trespass order.
England returned home again and called the library and spoke with the circulation manager, who said, “We don’t do politics at the library.”
“The circulation manager reiterated to Mr. England that he was banned from the library and that library staff had already spoken with the library’s attorney and been assured that they could take this action against him,” according to court records.
About four months later, England filed a lawsuit in federal court, seeking an injunction to bar the library from enforcing the ban and requiring the library to reinstate his library privileges, as well as attorneys’ fees and court costs. England moved for summary judgment on April 14.
The judge ruled in England’s favor, finding that poem was “political hyperbole,” which is protected speech under the First Amendment. The judge also ordered an injunction against England’s lifetime ban from the library.
For the complete story, see Thursday’s Republic.
