FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (WTVF) — A federal judge has ruled that Fort Campbell’s Barsanti Elementary School and other Department of Defense schools likely violated students’ First Amendment rights when they removed books and lessons about race, gender, and history.
In a 44-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles said the Department of Defense Education Activity acted out of “partisan interest,” not educational purpose, when it pulled hundreds of titles and canceled events like Black History Month.
The ruling halts enforcement of three Trump administration executive orders that directed schools to remove materials tied to “divisive concepts” and “gender ideology.” Giles ordered all removed books and curriculum to be restored at five affected schools, including Barsanti Elementary at Fort Campbell.
The lawsuit, filed by the ACLU on behalf of 12 students, argued that military families saw library shelves cleared of books on civil rights, Native American history, and gender identity. Teachers at Fort Campbell were reportedly told to remove classroom materials referencing Black leaders and diversity.
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