The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act is achieving what decades of censors could not: a ban on countless children’s books, because their ink might contain a little bit of lead. Libraries and thrift stores are particularly hard hit, and the American Library Association is recommending that libraries ignore the law. (Via Volokh.)
The Act was a bipartisan atrocity. It passed last year in a rush with strong support from both parties and little deliberation during a frenzy of lead scares. But whatever excuse Congress might have had last year, it has no longer. We now know what the Act does. Unfortunately, Jim DeMint’s (R-SC) budget amendment to fix the Act failed, and his bill to do so has been languishing in Jay Rockefeller’s (D-WV) Senate Commerce committee since February. Incidentally, the bill has seven cosponsors, all Republicans.
Internet Scofflaw 