Little Rock, Arkansas – The Arkansas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said Monday that it was suing Saline County and county judge Matthew Brumley for what it claims was Patty Hector’s retaliatory termination as library director.
According to the complaint, Hector was singled out by the county because she opposed library material control and made anti-censorship public remarks.
After the county quorum court passed a law removing the county library board’s authority to fire a library director, Brumley fired Hector in October 2023. Despite local social conservatives’ concerns about books they considered sexually explicit in the library—which culminated in a billboard sponsored by the Saline County Republican Women that read, “Director Hector must go,” the board had refused to fire Hector.
According to John Williams, the legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, “standing up against censorship should never cost someone their job.” Ms. Hector was dismissed for standing up for the freedom of reading and for not allowing political pressure to control how a public library is run. In addition to being unlawful, retaliation against her for raising these important issues is an assault on the values of free speech and information access that public libraries uphold.
In addition to economic damages for lost pay and mental hardship, the action seeks a declaration finding that Hector’s termination violated her constitutional rights.
