Eye On Illinois: Book ban consequences bill boosting Giannoulias’ campaign platform

If Gov. JB Pritzker and Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias had a sharper sense of history, they’d have waited two days for the formal signing of House Bill 2789.

Pritzker put pen to paper Monday at Chicago’s Harold Washington Library Center, making official a law Giannoulias championed: a measure that introduces consequences for libraries that “ban, remove or otherwise restrict access to books or other materials.” According to Capitol News Illinois, Pritzker cited 67 attempts to have books removed from Illinois libraries last year.

Had the ceremony taken place today, it would’ve fallen exactly 57 years after the Vatican formally rescinded Index Librorum Prohibitorum, an extensive list of titles the church formerly prohibited its faithful from reading that continuously evolved since its inception in 1557.

Without wading into the macro fascinating history, it’s worth quoting a June 14, 1996, letter from Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, pro-prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith:

Scott T. Holland

“The Index remains morally binding, in light of the demands of natural law, in so far as it admonishes the conscience of Christians to be on guard for those writings that can endanger faith and morals. But, at the same time, it no longer has the force of ecclesiastical law with the attached censure.

“In this matter, the Church trusts in the mature conscience of the faithful, and especially the authors, the Catholic publishers, and those concerned with the education of the youth.”

Of course, we all want to protect our children so they’re reading age-appropriate material. But banning books from libraries isn’t about that at all. Book bans are about censorship, marginalizing people, marginalizing ideas and facts. Regimes ban books, not democracies.”

—  Gov. JB Pritzker

To my Presbyterian eyes, the takeaway is that although the Catholic Church remained uncomfortable with a good deal of printed material, it determined simply reading those words was not a sinful act because individuals can look after their own morals and faith.

“Of course, we all want to protect our children so they’re reading age-appropriate material,” Pritzker said Monday. “But banning books from libraries isn’t about that at all. Book bans are about censorship, marginalizing people, marginalizing ideas and facts. Regimes ban books, not democracies.”

As I wrote in March, legal challenges seem inevitable, perhaps by targeting a requirement to adopt a no-ban policy or the American Library Association’s Bill of Rights as a grant qualification. That clause compels every agency under state grant programs’ umbrella to act, even if they’ve never even discussed limiting content. The state will argue it has the right to attach strings to its own money, a long-established practice often manifested in how the federal government treats states.

Almost as near a certainty is Giannoulias hanging his political hat on this accomplishment whenever he inevitably seeks a higher office. Unlike campaign positions that mischaracterized the secretary of state’s role in election administration, Giannoulias here found a lever both within his office’s purview and currying his base voters.

Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Media. Follow him on Twitter @sth749. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.

Scott Holland

Scott T. Holland

Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Media Illinois. Follow him on Twitter at @sth749. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.