Some of at least 24 books, curriculum and movies across the state of Iowa which were challenged or reviewed to ensure they complied with state law.

By early February, Jessica Henninger realized something had drastically changed at her daughters' school at the Fort Campbell military base in Kentucky.

First, she said, she received an email from one of her daughter's teachers asking for students to return their library books and saying the library would be closed indefinitely.

Around the same time, a Black History Month project – a living wax museum in which her other daughter was planning to depict the poet Maya Angelou – also was canceled.

The changes came days after the Pentagon issued guidance not to use official resources to mark cultural awareness months, such as Black History Month. According to the guidance, labeled "Identity Months Dead at DoD," "efforts to divide the force – to put one group ahead of another – erode camaraderie and threaten mission execution."

The school her daughters attend is operated by the federal government as part of the Department of Defense Education Activity, often referred to as DoDEA. More than 67,000 students attend class at DoDEA locations in the United States and 11 other countries, according to its website.

Henninger described a “helpless” feeling amid the changes.

“In DoDEA, our children’s education can be changed by an executive order from the president of the United States,” she said.

Henninger took her concerns to the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed suit in April, saying the administration's actions violated the First Amendment.

The complaint said parents received an email Feb. 10 saying that DoDEA staff had "reviewed" books related to race and gender and that such books would not be available to students. The complaint asked the judge to order officials to reinstate the removed books and to bar War Secretary Pete Hegseth and DoDEA Director Beth Schiavino-Narvaez from ordering further removals from school libraries and curricula.

As of early October, there had been no ruling on the case, nor on a separate ACLU filing requesting a preliminary injunction that would prevent DoDEA schools from removing books and curricula while litigation continues.

"Students in DoDEA schools have been back in the classroom for nearly two months, but nearly 600 books are still missing," ACLU senior staff attorney Emerson Sykes said Oct. 8 during Banned Books Week, an annual event to spread awareness of book censorship around the country. "We are eagerly awaiting the time that they'll finally be able to read books that reflect their experiences and communities."

Sykes told USA TODAY in June that the government should not use politics to direct what students can study.

"It’s quite obvious that these (restrictions) were not reasonably related to a legitimate pedagogical concern but in fact were about implementing a ban on ideas the government finds politically incorrect or politically difficult." That, according to Sykes, “becomes a First Amendment problem.”

The Pentagon told USA TODAY it does not comment on pending litigation.

Book bans, parents’ rights a hot-button issue in 2025

The scale of the ban, in addition to its implementation at federally run schools, makes the lawsuit “really the first of its kind,” said Kasey Meehan, program director for PEN America’s Freedom to Read initiative.

The organization, which is part of the coalition that sponsors Banned Books Week, has monitored bans around the country since 2021. Meehan said the effort to ban books started at the local level as parents addressed school boards with their concerns over the books in school libraries, which then led to statewide efforts and legislation.

Now, with President Donald Trump back in office, the movement has been embraced at the federal level, Meehan said.

Florida and Texas had the highest number of book bans in the 2024-2025 school year, according to PEN America data. The organization recorded more than 6,800 cases of book bans in that school year.

Books were also at the heart of Mahmoud v. Taylor, a case in which religious parents of students in a public school district in Maryland sought to opt their children out from reading books with LGBTQ+ themes at school.

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the parents in June, saying that not allowing opt-outs “places an unconstitutional burden on the parents’ rights to the free exercise of their religion.”

Henninger sees a “really important distinction to make” between the two cases.

“Opting your children out of something and saying: ‘No thank you. I would not like my child to be a part of that discussion’ is a completely different thing than deciding for every child in the school that they shouldn’t be allowed to learn about that topic.”

Parents should be able to control their children’s education “to an extent," Henninger said, adding that the executive branch is overstepping in its efforts to do the same.

“It’s a slippery slope if you’re going to start saying that the federal government can dictate what is allowed and what is not allowed to be taught to our children,” she said. “You’re opening up the door there to a lot of executive overreach and politicization of an education system, which is just not something that is ever okay.”

Sykes, the ACLU attorney, told USA TODAY in June that the government should not use politics to limit what students can study. “It’s quite obvious that these (restrictions) were not reasonably related to a legitimate pedagogical concern but in fact were about implementing a ban on ideas the government finds politically incorrect or politically difficult.” That, according to Sykes, “becomes a First Amendment problem.”

Military members have had varying opinions about the administration's actions and her lawsuit, Henninger said. Though there may be political disagreements, she said, they are ultimately more united by their unique shared experience of military life.

“We can’t let that kind of thing get in the way of friendships and a support system that is really, really important in this kind of living.”

BrieAnna Frank is a First Amendment reporter at USA TODAY. Reach her at bjfrank@usatoday.com.

USA TODAY's coverage of First Amendment issues is funded through a collaboration between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'A First Amendment problem': Lawsuit over book bans at Department of Defense schools

Reporting by BrieAnna J. Frank, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect