Alaska U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason on Tuesday issued an edict to the Mat-Su Borough School Board: Put 51 books back in the school libraries by Aug. 14, or else.
Gleason ruled against the district in a case brought by a radical Fairbanks attorney, Savannah Fletcher, who is running to represent Fairbanks in the Alaska Senate. She works as a “law fare” attorney for the Northern Justice Project.
In her ruling, the schools may not remove any additional books from the school library shelves until Judge Gleason says so.
The case goes back to 2023, when the district responded to parents and the public that was concerned about certain titles that were being placed in the libraries for children. Some of them were explicit sex manuals for gay sex, including how to have anal sex.
The district temporarily removed the books and then set up a committee to review them and decide which books could be returned. In the end, the committee chose seven books to return out of the nearly 60 that had been set aside for review.
Gleason agreed with Fletcher that children should have access to these books, including ones with pictures of men having oral sex with other men.
Some of the books are well-known controversial books for children. Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopian novel about a society that is essentially a prison and rape camp, where women are held captive as breeding stock and where they are beaten into submission. The material is disturbing even for adults, and not all parents would believe their 14-year-old would have the maturity to read the novel.
Importantly, the judge decided that the public process was not good enough for her. Although the district was attempting to be responsive and responsible, the decisions about the books occurred over several meetings and citizen-led elected groups tend to work through things not on a straight line.
Gleason decided the process was imperfect and substituted her own perfect judgment for that of local citizens who are trying to make the best decisions, based on information coming at them from all directions.
Here is the judge’s ruling:
Who is Judge Sharon Gleason?
Gleason was nominated by President Barack Obama on April 6, 2011, to a seat vacated by John W. Sedwick. She was confirmed by the Senate on Nov. 15, 2011, and received commission on Jan. 4, 2012. She has served as chief judge since 2022 and with the current sex scandal that has enveloped the Alaska District Court, she is assigning most cases to herself.
Gleason is the only judge left in the three-member panel. Judge Joshua Kindred resigned after the scandal became publicly known and the other judgeship hasn’t been filled because of disagreements between Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Sen. Dan Sullivan about the process and the type of judge they want to recommend.
The ruling leaves Judge Gleason effectively in charge of determining content of all school libraries in Alaska, and her ruling can be inferred to extend to any and all curriculum in the schools, since library books in school libraries are just one aspect of school offerings. She will reach mandatory retirement age in three years. The federal judiciary is made up of judges nominated by a president and confirmed by the Senate, and who serve life terms. They cannot be voted out of office.
Gleason has damaged Alaska’s economy and endangered the citizens when she recently canceled all of Cook Inlet gas leases. She also tried to stop ConocoPhillips from proceeding on its Willow project, but she was overturned by the Ninth Circuit.
Because of the short timeframe Gleason has given the citizen government of the Mat-Su Borough School District to respond, it’s likely that the district will appeal the decision to the Ninth Circuit and to the U.S. Supreme Court.
She is up for election when?
She is judge for life. There is no election on federal judges. – sd
This wacko judge for life???
The thought is painful and disheartening.
She has mandatory retirement in three years, if that helps the pain. – sd
In a constitutional form of government, all three branches are required to follow the Constitution. That is why the members of all three branches of government are required by law to individually take an oath of allegiance, not to the courts, but to the Constitution itself.
If two branches of government must show allegiance to the third branch, and follow whatever nonsense the third branch of government comes up with, it is simply an oligarchy, and taking an oath to the Constitution is meaningless.
The left hates the Constitution. It prefers politburos and oligarchies.
The most appropriate action for this school district is to ignore this judge. The most appropriate action for the Governor is to protect the school district from any financial retribution from this judge through orders to fine the school district.
“Christians,” be real Christians, so you can stand up for truth, being salt and light, instead of letting yourselves be compromised through willfully sinning without fully repenting and reconciling so we can be FREE.
Only those who are led by the HOLY Spirit have no condemnation, walking not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
These are the sons of God, Paul says in Romans 8. Being born-again is just the start of our lifelong walk with God where Jesus must be the head, not us.
Then we’ll be salt and light, making Alaska glorious!
False Christianity is the main problem.
True Christianity is the main solution.
Most Alaskan pastors don’t even abide in Christ themselves, unlike Paul, who “always” made sure his conscience was clear, so it was clear when he met Jesus face to Face.
Paul: “..I also practice *ALWAYS* having a CONSCIENCE VOID OF OFFENSE toward God and MEN” (Acts 24:16).
Paul: “Work out your own salvation through fear and trembling” (Php. 2:12).
We MUST abide in Christ to be “in Christ.”
Then “the world will know” (Jesus’ prayer for us in John 17).
Isn’t there a street corner you can go to bother people?
Amen
You got a problem with the right to free speech? Or only when it offends you? Your scrolling finger busted? Keep moving along.
Howdy Jeff, thanks for your GOOD WORDS.
This is just conservatives getting the government overreach they desire. Not seeing the issue.
Defend that statement. If you’re referring to Row v. Wade being overturned, you’re dead wrong. That is exactly what was wanted. The federal government getting out of people’s personal lives, decisions, and not claiming power that they don’t possess. In the case of Row v. Wade the federal government never had the power to legalize abortion nationwide. The states can do that because they have more powers at the state level than the federal does, and that’s where the SCOTUS correctly put the issue. At the individual states. I’d prefer they do this at the state or local level too.
Of course you aren’t.
It’s impossible to see with eyes tightly shut.
Nothing independent about your comments here on MRAK.
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But, please share with us what government overreach conservatives desire. And, remember, citing sources is important. Otherwise it is just opinion.
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Thanks!
This is lawless judicial overreach on something that is not even a federal issue
Totally Insane She should be Arrested and charged with providing pornagraphic material to Children as should Savanna . These two are Sick.
Unless — and until — individual states resist the obviously unconstitutional dictates of the judiciary, we will continue down the path of tyranny. Let’s see what Dunleavy does. Quite predictable, I would guess.
Has this library ever accepted federal grants? Perhaps THAT is the poison that has brought “dependency & control” of now even our community libraries? Or is she simply saying the library falls under the 1st Amendment? Because citizens have accepted previous, decades-long control of Nativity scenes, school prayers and the like, this is a logical step. Try reading the actual words of the 1st Amendment. It says “CONGRESS shall make no law …” not “Congress, states, school districts, municipalities and counties …”
The last state to divest itself of an official state-sponsored religion did so in 1833, proving that the 1st Amendment does NOT apply to the states.
A Constitution that is a “living document” is not really living, but DEAD.
Quite dead.
This is a school library, and I would be very surprised if they are not taking Federal Government money. Which, as you allude, comes with some very BIG obligations. However, I find it difficult to believe that one of those conditions are “Put every book in the school library”
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This must be more of a first amendment thing. The school pulled the books from the shelves, someone complained they were restricting the students access to information, and the school did not do a good enough job of defending themselves.
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And, you are correct, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights restrict the Federal Government (and in a lot of ways, the individual States). Ignoring those restrictions is killing the highest law in the land.
I concur with Robert. 100%
Federal overreach, needs to be appealed
Federal overreach needs to be neutered, not appealed. By appealing, you accept the premise that Federal governments make the decisions in the first place.
The ruling simply needs to be ignored.
317 views but only one comment how quiet we are to injustice! And if that commenter actually read the article they would have not ask the question ( stupid is as stupid does ), Suzanne you should not have had to respond to this person’s comment!! English is the main American language!
Obama appointed says it all, she’s a communist activist trying to legislate from the bench.
Simple, we will not comply.
There comes a time when civil disobedience to the rule by oppressive authoritarians is critical, or democracy and freedom are lost. The pervasive mindset is that federal level governance is the most important, when in reality local level governance by each community is the most important. Judge Gleason can pontificate from her secluded office, but she can also be ignored. The Mat-Su School District should just ignore her. The judge demonstrably poses a serious threat to the well being, security and mental health of the local youth and their families. Families come first. Just say no to her. India would still be an oppressed colony of Britain if the local people did not simply tell them no more oppression. America would still be an oppressed collection of states if locals didn’t simply say no more. We are rapidly descending into national chaos and destruction, unless local people everywhere don’t stand up and say no more insanity by decree. Keep filthy hands off our children and grandchildren.
Did radical LGBTQ feminists, or whatever they are, finally get on the federal bench in Alaska? God help us from this witch, and the little monsters she has enabled to help her stir her brew.
Mike Cronk for State Senate.
Now I’m wondering if Gleason looks at porn on her cellphone during trials.(?)
Trump’s trial judge did. Democrat judges are horney old Atheists, with little common sense.
This should be a non-issue. If parents don’t want their kids reading a book, its up to them to ban it in their own home, not in the school.
Not good enough.
The parents also have to take an active interest in their children, teach them right from wrong, and make sure that when exposed to filth, they know enough to walk away. Just banning it in the home is not enough.
So in this case, you have no issue with the government interfering with parental choice. Got it. Thanks for the clarification.
That’s not the point. Strawman arguments are so lame. You have parental choice. Just not in the public sector where kids are openly exposed to all kinds of depravity. That’s where we the parents protect them reactively and on a daily basis. We can’t change the world but we can protect our kiddos from some of it. Molon Labe.
So, cman, you are all in on elementary school students viewing homosexual pornography? Seems like the opposite would be true if you gave one fat damn about kids. Nobody is banning any books. If parents want their kids viewing porn, they can provide it to them. It is not the school’s place to endanger childrens’ innocence. The state law is clear on that point.
One persons porn, is another persons literature. I’m amazed (just kidding, your hypocrisy isn’t surprising at all) that a conservative would be in favor of some governmental body deciding what other peoples children should and should not be reading.
If you went to jail, you’d definitely be in the protective custody unit for S.O. ‘s
Cman, would your same argument apply if the librarians packed the shelves with Bibles for every age group,religious picture books, Korans and Torahs?? After all, according to you it is a non-issue and banning them in your home should be enough, right??
As long as the government wasn’t endorsing them, then I have no problem with it. And if I as a parent don’t want my child reading immoral books like the Bible, etc., then its up to me and not the school board to make those decisions.
Sorry can have it both ways here, cman, there are a myriad of court cases brought by the ACLU etc. arguing that the purchase and presence of religious material in a class room/school library constitutes an endorsement by the state, violating the establishment clause.
It needs to be pointed out that school boards and librarians make decisions about what books to purchase on a continuous basis. They pick and choose materials all the time. This in my opinion is no different.
I suppose following your demands, we will have to close all school libraries and from now on insist that parents purchase all their kids reading materials individually.
“Put 51 books back in the school libraries by Aug. 14, or else.”
Or else what?? Serious question. What does she intend to do if the school board, which is elected by local people to serve local interests…..decides to ignore her and simply do their job that were elected to do??
“Gleason agreed with Fletcher that children should have access to these books, including ones with pictures of men having oral sex with other men.”
And some people doubt that the Left are pedo groomers….
JD Vance was mocked and derided for his comment about “childless cat ladies”, and yet here we have a childless cat lady who is, with the full weight and authority of the massive federal government behind her, sticking her nose into every minute aspect of other people’s lives..
Let the district put the books back. Then conservative families have their children check them out, then throw them into the woodstove. Refuse to pay the fines, or drag it out.
Repeat as needed until the 51 books are all wisps of smoke. As the books are replaced, feed them to the woodstove.
Behave like Antifa, who knew how to effectively deal with the federal court in Portland.
I like the idea of taking the books out and not returning them until this: the kids will be penalized for the actions of mom and dad.
Don’t doubt for a minute zealots like this would think twice about coming down on a child to hurt the parents.
“……..the kids will be penalized for the actions of mom and dad………”
The very worse they can do is fine the student, and even when I was a kid, the only exception to the universal pattern that parents paid, anyway, was with me, since I was working by age 10. If conservatives organized like Leftists, no family would have to do it twice. There would be gangs of families/kids ready and eager to disappear those books.
This Library vrs Society game is entry-level Culture War. If you can’t beat the library with its 14th Century, Guggenheim propaganda system, you have zero chance against electrons and lawyers. May as well surrender and enjoy the dirty pics.
Uh yeah, they are groomers. They see your kids as tools to turn against you, or as objects of their sexual fantasies. Get your kids out of the public school system ANY WAY YOU CAN.
Just ignore her ruling and force her to act on the “or else.” Xiden ignores the SC regarding the student loan bailouts so that is the precedent to follow.
I’m curious about that myself. I’d like to see what her “or else” might be.
Gleason has to go.
Like nearly every utterance of “gotta go” or “has to go”, cute sentiment but completely out of touch with reality. Between the article and the comments, Suzanne has thrice pointed out that hers was a lifetime appointment.
I don’t know why the State of Alaska or, even the Mat-Su Borough, doesn’t just ignore the ruling. How many times have you heard about the left not complying with subpoenas or, after a requests for documents that are redacted to a point that they look like a blank chalkboard? I understand First Amendment rights but, what about adapting a common, basic standard of decency that protects underage school children?
Teaching school children how to perform gay oral sex or how to have anal sex is not protected speech because it is grooming and sexual molestation of the child, even if it is only pictures or words on the pages of a book. If I purchased one of these books and gave it to my neighbor’s kid without his mom and dad’s knowledge, I could be charged with a crime for displaying lewd material to a minor. The left’s attack on school libraries is a twisting and perversion of free speech laws. In the same way that I can’t legally “talk dirty” to my neighbor’s kid, so too can I NOT legally display lewd content in a children’s library. They want to twist the library thing into a “republicans ban books” argument, when it’s not about banning those books, it’s about keeping sexual content out of a child’s purview, which our laws already fully support. The conclusion that lefties are groomers is literally demonstrably true in this case. They just want to hide behind the author of a book, rather than taking responsibility for their own duty to protect a child’s innocence. So, in essence, what they are arguing is exactly the same as if I was to say to my neighbor’s kid, “Hey, look at what just popped up on my internet search browser!” The left would be all over me like flies on meat if I did that to their kids… but they demand they can do it to mine at the school library. Sorry Charlie. Homeschooling from now on because I can’t trust anyone else.
The constitution states you can impeach a federal judge but according to Yale law school this is not the only way to rid a judge.
After reading the decision, I would ask Judge Gleason if the plaintiffs worked with the MSBSD to work this out. It seems a rather frivolous lawsuit. The books’ content was not the issue. The slow vetting/shelving of the books was the issue.
Maybe the MSBSD should put all various copies of the Bible on the shelves and while at it put a huge display of the various Bible editions at the front entrance of the library. Maybe even put lots of conservative authors’ books on the shelves and one of a progressive author on the shelves.
Get on the offense or lose defending the kids.
Judge Sharon Gleason is right. Her orders to not ban books and reading materials should be enforced. Every Alaskan should donate all their porn material to the high schools in Anchorage and make sure they’re available to the kids. After all, we wouldn’t want X-rated or R-rated materials banned, right?
/end sarcasm
DO NOT RETAIN this garbage piece of a judge come November!!! If she is not up for retention, file complaints, file complaints, file complaints! Anyone, Fletcher included, should be put in jail for going after our children and forcing porn. Oh she will tell you our children have a choice, but they do not. They will do what the “adults” tell them. We, in Fairbanks, will be fighting against her election and I would love to run her out of town on a rail!
Federal judges do not stand for retention, Sally. This is a case of “elections matter.” She is appointed for life by Obama. – sd
Without recourse from corruption only leaves one remaining solution.
Princess strikes again.
Judge Gleason issued a preliminary injunction, not a “return the books or else” mandate. A preliminary injunction is issued when the court determines that the plaintiff will in all likelihood succeed on the merits of the case when it goes to trial. Here, the trial on the actions taken by the school district will occur in April 2025. The injunction applies only until then. The four books that were determined by the committee to be totally inappropriate were not included in the order to return the books.
There were no books in the Mat-Su school libraries that contained pornography. None that included pictures of gay men having sex. These kinds of false claims only serve to inflame the situation and are not based in reality. In fact, seven of the books on the original list were never in the school libraries.
An appeal to the Ninth District is unlikely to be successful. For one thing, Gleason relied on a decision by the Ninth District in granting the preliminary injunction.
Read the decision. The case was never about the content of the books. The case was about a unilateral decision by the school board in the absence of a formal process, with the decision for removal because school officials and some members of the public disagreed with the viewpoints expressed in the books. The decision even cites some of the negative and false claims made about the books AS A CLASS during public comments to the school board.
Yeah, but . . . the issue is books in SCHOOL library, not a public library. The purpose of the school library is to support education and critical thought. There is no literary, artistic or educational purpose to these books other than to promote an unhealthy, unsafe, and deviant lifestyle. For an adult, a personal decision, for a minor, a matter of influence or rape. The books are not banned, they are barred for age specific reasons. The underlying issue is what is in the books, the encouraging of the minor reader not to share their ‘secret’ interest in the subject matter with adults who would object. Indoctrination. Not education. No 1st Amendment issue or access issue, as these books are available commercially. Further, no irreparable harm by any stretch of the imagination, unless the goal is to give the minor access for purposes of indoctrination into the lifestyle.
Larry–you are wrong. The content of the books was not what the judge used in rendering the preliminary injunction. Read the court order. SD provided a link in the article.
Who picks these books for the library? There must be millions of books written each year, why are these selected? Who is profiting from them being pushed to the front? This is what we need to look at?
Can the judge explain why one book deserves that place on the shelf over another.
The kids will learn more from teachers armed with AR-15’s and Bibles than those banned books
Actually, kids WOULD learn a lot more from teachers embracing their constitutional rights by example and providing the moral life lessons espoused in the Bible than from teachers who champion elementary school kids knowing how to suck d*ck and that porn is an acceptable tasty treat for minors.
She looks about like what you’d expect given her rulings.. She’s only missing blue hair and pierced nose. Hates those icky Alaska people and wishes she could order them “0ff to the Camps!!”
A TRO is not a permanent injunction and this judge’s opinion is not law. There is no constitutional issue, these are minors who are affected and for the same reason that pornographic materials are not publicly displayed at the grocery store check out. Further, there was no issue of ‘irreparable harm’ in barring these books from access by minors. The books are not banned, but barred from a non-public library designed to support an educational curriculum and to support critical thought. They are barred, because the materials are not age appropriate and encourage the individual to engage in sex acts with adults and other minors that would be deemed inappropriate and outside of community standards. The books are still available commercially. The market determines whether or not they will be published. By the judges own admission, several are out of publication, others unavailable for whatever reason, meaning that they did not achieve commercial success. I am willing to be money that this judge’s order will be overturned by the 9th, even as liberal as the 9th is, there is no legal basis for this decision. It is merely pandering to the Left and the unicorns. After all, the books were about indoctrination, and highly suspect, as they encouraged the target audience, minors, to keep secret from their parents and the authorities their use of such materials and any inclination to engage in sex with adults of the same sex. Funny, FL and other states were able to end this assault upon community standards and morality by barring this filth from access by minors. The Alaska I grew up in would have been very hostile to these communist fruit loops who want the kids for sex. How things change. I bet this judge is a lesbian and has ‘skin’ in this game. The kids were promised to the LGBTQ crowd for their support of the openly communist goals of the Dem party. The 2024 vote will be the most critical and important in many decades. Either the Republic will stand or Marxist doctrine will replace the Constitution. No. I swore an oath 3 times to the Constitution. And, my mother’s maiden name is Washington. Civil war will be the outcome of the insanity. Our kids are our most precious resource. They are not supposed to repeat our mistakes.
Instead of ordering people to ze camps!!!.. She seems more like the kind running the K-lagers . she reminds me of the Himmlertype.. Same bland face hiding behind the tiny little glasses she would enjoy the cat and mouse of playing God with lives
Not TRO, preliminary injunction. Still, there is supposed to be a trial on the merits of the case, unless the judge used the injunction hearing for both. In any case, this decision is male bovine excrement as there are no damages to the plaintiffs and certainly no constitutional issues. The books are available, just not in a school library. Given that the books are otherwise available, no harm. I understand that it is a trend to include school libraries in the public library system and to allow public access, meaning anyone can access and check out school library books, at least in some Anchorage area schools. Not good. Only in the case of an isolated community should there be a dual use, or if the community has a public library, then a school library is unnecessary, according to the thought processes in play in the injunction. Eliminating the school library where there is a public library would be a cost savings measure.
Larry–the trial is set for April 2025.
In a decision released Tuesday, all nine justices agreed that a district’s local school board, not the state agency nor the Oklahoma State Board of Education, has the power to decide which books to include in school libraries.
So it seems these lawless judges only want to restrict views they disagree with.
The OK case was the board of education wanted to remove age inappropriate books, it went to court and the Supreme court in OK stated that the local school board has the power to decide what books to include.
So let me get this straight. We the people need judge Gleasons permission to remove a book from our schools?? Who in the hell does she think she is.
Get some good kids to check out the books and then cause them to disappear somehow. “Guess the dog ate it.”
Theaters had a MMPA (Motion Picture Association of America) rating system in which R Rated Movies required those under 17 to be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. There is also a NC-17 rating in which “no one 17 and under [is] admitted.” Why don’t we implement the same requirement for R and NC-17 rated books? There doesn’t appear to be a 1st Amendment issue with the MMPA rating system.
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