We learned with sadness of the death of pioneering science fiction and fantasy writer Ray Bradbury. Bradbury will perhaps best be remembered for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451, which, nearly 60 years after its publication, remains one of the most important works of art about censorship—and a target of would-be censors.

Some of the challenges to Bradbury’s work, as recorded by the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) and published in ALA’s Banned Books Resource Guide by Robert P. Doyle:

Fahrenheit 451: Expurgated at the Venado Middle School in Irvine. Students received copies of the book with scores of words—mostly "hells” and "damns”—blacked out. After receiving complaints from parents and being contacted by reporters, school officials said the censored copies would no longer be used. (CA 1992)

Challenged at the Conroe Independent School District because of the following: "discussion of being drunk, smoking cigarettes, violence, ‘dirty talk,’ references to the Bible, and using God’s name in vain.” The novel went against the complaintants’ "religious beliefs.” (TX 2006)

The Martian Chronicles: Challenged at the Haines City High School due to several instances of profanity and the use of God’s name in vain in the work. (FL 1982)

Pulled and replaced with a newer version at the Herbert Hoover Middle School in Edison because a chapter contains the words "the niggers are coming.” The new abridged edition of the book omits the inflammatory story, titled "Way Up in the Air.” (NJ 1998)

The Veldt: Retained on the Beaverton School District’s reading list. The short story was challenged by a middle-school parent who thought its language and plot were inappropriate for students. Her biggest concern is that the story offers no consequences for the children’s actions. The short story is part of Bradbury’s The Illustrated Man anthology. It is twenty pages long and was published in 1951 as the first in the collection of eighteen science fiction stories.

OIF also has received notification of multiple challenges to Bradbury’s story "The Sound of Thunder.”

Fahrenheit 451 is the second selection of the FAIFE Book Club, co-sponsored by OIF and IFLA’s Committee on Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression. This international, online initiative will feature resources and events on the book through sum­mer 2012. For more information, visit faifebookclub.ala.org.

In the April election, five trustees were elected to two-year terms on the Freedom to Read Foundation Board:

Carol Brey-Casiano (Brasilia, Brazil) is an information resource officer at theU.S.Embassy in Brazil and is a past president of the American Library Association.

Julius C. Jefferson, Jr. (Washington, D.C.) is an information research specialist at the Library of Congress.

Mary Minow (Cupertino, Calif.) is a library law consultant and is Follett Chair at Dominican University's Graduate School of Library and Information Science.

Judith Platt (Washington, D.C.) is the director of free expression advocacy at the Association of American Publishers.

Nancy P. Zimmerman (Columbia, S.C.) is associate dean for academic affairs at The Graduate School, University of South Carolina.

Brey-Casiano, Minow, and Platt were re-elected. Jefferson and Zimmerman were newly elected (Jefferson served previously on the board as an ex-officio member due to his status as chair of ALA’s Intellectual Freedom Committee).

The newly elected trustees joined the following members to form the FTRF Board for 2012–2013:

Helen Adams

Jonathan Bloom

Chris Finan

Christine Jenkins

Herbert Krug

Candace Morgan

Ex-Officio members of the 2012–2013 FTRF Board:

Maureen Sullivan, ALA President

Pat Scales, ALA IFC Chair, 2011–2012

Keith Michael Fiels, ALA Executive Director

Barbara Stripling, ALA President-Elect

Barbara M. Jones is the FTRF secretary and executive director. The officers for 2012­–2013 will be selected at the FTRF Annual Meeting in Anaheim, CA on June 21.

On February 22, the U.S. Supreme Court held a hearing on the constitutionality of the Stolen Valor Act of 2005, which makes it a federal crime to falsely represent oneself to have been awarded a military medal or ribbon. The Freedom to Read Foundation filed an amicus curiae brief in this case, asking the Court to overturn the Act on the grounds that the law creates a new category of unprotected speech that is contrary to long-standing legal precedents holding that the First Amendment protects non-fraudulent, non-defamatory false speech.

Xavier Alvarez was indicted in 2007 after he falsely told an audience, among several other lies, that he had been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Alvarez pleaded guilty on the condition that he be allowed to appeal on First Amendment grounds. In August 2010, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Alvarez’s conviction and found the Stolen Valor Act unconstitutional in a 2–1 decision. (Notably, in U.S. v. Hinkston, a similar case in Colorado, the Tenth Circuit in 2011 upheld the Stolen Valor Act in a 2–1 ruling.)

FTRF’s amicus brief, filed with other members of the Media Coalition, argues that, unlike in cases of defamation and fraud, there is no exception to the First Amendment for a government-imposed "test of truth,” and that enforcement of such a test would chill the speech of law-abiding media and other entities that distribute information. Exaggerations or even mistakes are not exempted from the Stolen Valor Act.

Other organizations filing briefs in support of Mr. Alvarez include the ACLU, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression. Those filing amicus briefs in support of the government include the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and attorneys general of 20 states.

All the briefs in the case, along with the transcript of the oral argument, can be found at www.mediacoalition.org.