The Llano County Library lawsuit is entering its next phase, with a second round of oral arguments set to happen at a federal courthouse in New Orleans in September after the county lost the first round in June. The News filed a Texas Public Information Act request to ascertain how much money it has cost the county’s taxpayers so far and sent questions to the Llano County Judge’s Office.
Over the past two years, from Aug. 8, 2022, through Aug. 26, the county has paid $257,724, for the legal services of Jonathan F. Mitchell, an attorney with an office in Austin, according to the Llano County Judge’s Office this week. That tally includes $240,918, from Aug. 8, 2022, through Aug. 28, 2023.
“Since the three judges for the (U.S. Court of Appeals) Fifth Circuit issued their opinion on June 6, Llano County has paid an additional $16,806, in legal fees to Mr. Mitchell,” said Llano County Judge Ron Cunningham, who answered questions from the News via email on Monday. “At this time, we do not have a means to anticipate what the additional legal expenses will be. Each year in our budget process, we anticipate expenses with line items in both professional services and legal expenses, not unlike other counties. We allocate funds for professional services provided to Llano County including...engineering, legal, architectural and information technology.”
Llano County Attorney Dwain K. Rogers Jr. and Assistant Llano County Attorney Matthew L. Rienstra are also listed in court documents as active attorneys on the Little v. Llano County lawsuit. Rienstra filed the first responses to the lawsuit that was filed in federal court on April 25, 2022. Mitchell was added as an attorney just over seven weeks later, on June 15, 2022, according to the “Notice of Attorney Appearance” filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in Austin.
“The Llano County Commissioners and I have the duty and responsibility to defend the county against allegations (that) we believe to be untrue,” Cunningham said. “This is true for all departments within Llano County and fulfillment of this responsibility helps ensure we continue to provide services to the citizens and visitors of Llano County. This is no different than other city, county, state and federal governments and agencies that have the same potential for litigation as a result of incidents that happen within their jurisdiction.”
Cunningham said that the county is looking forward to the end of the lawsuit.
“We’re grateful for the support and participation of the citizens of Llano County as we work through this legal process,” he said. “We look forward to completing this process and working with the community going forward. Working together, we continue to offer services and programs throughout the county which benefit the citizens and visitors of Llano County, including the library services. The commissioners court has successfully budgeted for the continued operations of the Llano County Library System. The budget has not been reduced and continues to provide services to the patrons.”
Little v. Llano County was the first but not the only lawsuit filed that is related to the book removals of 2021.
Barbara Suzette Baker, who was the head librarian at the Kingsland Branch, filed her federal civil rights lawsuit on March 4, against Llano County, its commissioners court, Llano County Library Director Amber Milum, and the same four members of the library advisory board who are defendants in Little v. Llano County: Bonnie Wallace, Rochelle Wells, Gay Baskin and Rhonda Schneider.
In her complaint, Baker alleges that she was fired from her position as a librarian in 2022, at the Kingsland branch because she voiced opposition to the book removals.
In Baker v. Llano County, attorneys from both sides have agreed on a discovery and case management plan that was filed with the Western District on Aug. 5. Attorneys are set to have a conference on Sept. 11, regarding pretrial matters.
LITTLE V. LLANO COUNTY: WHAT’S HAPPENED SO FAR?
Seven local library patrons sued the five members of the county commissioners court, the library system director and four library advisory board members, accusing the defendants of violating the First Amendment when 17 controversial books were removed from the library shelves and card catalog in 2021. The county also is accused of violating the Fourteenth Amendment when library advisory board meetings ceased to be held publicly. The county’s attorneys have maintained that the removals were part of librarians’ ongoing “weeding” process.
Little v. Llano County has been on hold since May of 2023. Llano County’s attorneys disagreed with a preliminary injunction that forced librarians to “return all the books at issue to the Library System, update the Library System’s searchable catalog to reflect that these books are available for checkout, and enjoin defendants from removing any more books for the pendency of this action.”
A first round of oral arguments was held in New Orleans on June 7, 2023. A year passed before a divided, 2-1 opinion was handed down on June 6. Two federal appellate judges—both nominated by Republican presidents—sided with the plaintiffs and ordered the Llano County Library System to return most of the 17 books that were removed back to the shelves and card catalog.
But that was not to be the end of the story.
A court order issued on July 3, granted a petition for rehearing en banc filed by the defendants. The same order vacated the prior order handed down on June 6, by Judge Jacques L. Wiener Jr. and Leslie Southwick. The dissenting opinion was written by Stuart Kyle Duncan, a Donald J. Trump-nominated judge who has been on the bench since 2018.
“One of the sitting Fifth Circuit judges requested a poll on the petition for rehearing en banc,” Cunningham said this week. “A majority of the sitting circuit judges in regular active service voted in favor of the en banc hearing, which led to the July 3 order.”
The next round of oral arguments is set to occur on Sept. 24, at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans.
Most of the books that were removed in 2021, were part of the Krause List and included authors who tackled topics of sexuality and race.
The News will continue to follow both library lawsuits.
