Court Suspends Removal of 44 Ala. Textbooks

A federal appeals court agreed today to temporarily set aside a court ruling that ordered Alabama to remove 44 books from its schools that critics said promoted humanism as a religion.

The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals also granted a request by the Alabama State Board of Education and school superintendent to suspend the injunction issued earlier this month by U.S. District Judge W. Brevard Hand.

The court agreed to hear the case on an expedited basis, said Henrietta Barnes, a clerk for the court.

Barnes said she could not estimate how quickly the court will hear the state’s appeal of Hand’s ruling but she said it will be handled faster than a normal civil case.

Hand’s ruling came in a lawsuit by 600 parents and teachers who challenged the use of the books. He said the 44 textbooks, published by well-known companies such as Rand McNally, Houghton Mifflin and McGraw-Hill, violate the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits government endorsement of religion.

Used in 100 Systems

Hand had refused to suspend his order while the state appealed his decision, and the state had been forced to tell schools to remove the books from classrooms where they were in use this school year.

More than 100 of the state’s 130 school systems had been using some of the books, which were on such subjects as home economics, history and social studies for elementary and high school pupils.

Charles Coody, attorney for the Alabama Board of Education, said in his request for the stay that removing the books had disrupted Alabama’s schools.

Hand’s decision “raise(s) serious and substantial constitutional issues concerning the ability of a state to develop curriculum and select appropriate textbooks,” Coody said.