American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression et al v. Sullivan

Filing 15

DECLARATION of David Cheezem, Fireside Books re 5 MOTION for Preliminary Injunction, 7 Memorandum,,, by Alaska Library Association, American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska, Association of American Publishers, Inc., Book Blizzard LLC, Bosco's, Inc., Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, David & Melissa LLC, Donald R. Douglas, Entertainment Merchants Association, Freedom to Read Foundation. (McKay, D.)

American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression et al v. Sullivan

Doc. 15

Dockets.Justia.com

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF ALASKA AMERICAN BOOKSELLERS FOUNDATION FOR FREE EXPRESSION; AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF ALASKA; ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN PUBLISHERS, INC.; COMIC BOOK LEGAL DEFENSE FUND; ENTERTAINMENT MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION; FREEDOM TO READ FOUNDATION; DAVID & MELISSA LLC d/b/a Fireside Books; BOOK BLIZZARD LLC d/b/a Title Wave Books; BOSCO'S, INC.; DONALD R. DOUGLAS d/b/a Don Douglas Photography; Civil No. and ALASKA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, Plaintiffs, v. DANIEL S. SULLIVAN, in his official capacity as ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE STATE OF ALASKA, Defendant. DECLARATION OF DAVID CHEEZEM I, David Cheezem, do declare: 1. I am the co-owner of David & Melissa LLC d/b/a Fireside Books ("Fireside

Books"), an Alaska LLC with its principal place of business in Palmer, Alaska and a plaintiff in this action. I submit this declaration on behalf of Fireside Books, its employees, customers, and the users of its website, in support of the plaintiffs' request for a declaration of unconstitutionality and preliminary and permanent injunctive relief prohibiting enforcement of AS 11.61.128 as amended by SB 222 (the "Amended Act"), and as prior to amendment (the "Prior Act"). 2. Fireside Books operates a community bookstore in Palmer, Alaska, which carries a broad range of new and used books and recordings. It stocks over 10,000 titles in its "brick and

mortar" store. It also operates a website (www.goodbooksbadcoffee.com) (the "Website") which currently offers a numbers of titles, including books, videos, magazines, books on tape, music and calendars. The titles that Fireside Books carries include both fiction and non-fiction works about sexual relationships, both heterosexual and homosexual, many of which include depictions. 3. The Website announces and describes recent books and other materials of interest. The Website also highlights upcoming events and offers links to other websites. The information on the Website is both written and pictorial, and includes book covers and excerpts. Some of the books described or discussed on the Website relate to sexual themes and topics. Some of the material shown on the Website may be considered by some to be "harmful to minors." 4. Were the Amended Act to be enforced, Fireside Books would be "chilled" in determining what materials would be carried in its store and featured and described on its website, and how they would be featured and described. FEAR OF PROSECUTION UNDER THE AMENDED ACT 5. Plaintiff Fireside Books fears prosecution under the Amended Act because it

carries in its store, and its Website on occasion contains material that may be considered by some to be "harmful to minors," and this material may be accessed by minors who browse its store or its generally-accessible Website. 6. Fireside Books uses its Website in part to list available titles and show book

covers. Some of these titles or book covers may contain material which depicts sexual activity or sexual excitement, making their appearance on the Web subject to the Amended Act. Books which appear or have appeared on the Website include The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, and The Fountain by Darren Aronofsky and Kent Williams. 2

7.

Under the Amended Act, employees of Fireside Books could be prosecuted for

displaying or selling books and other materials in its store, or for posting excerpts, book covers and other material to Fireside Books' Website. In order to ensure that Fireside Books does not make any "matter" that is "harmful to minors" available to a minor, it will be forced to eliminate nudity and sexually-themed images and excerpts from its store and its Website entirely. Because the Amended Act is vague as to what matter is "harmful to minors," and what may be considered harmful to a younger minor may not be considered harmful to an older minor, Fireside Books would be forced to eliminate all matter in its store and on its website that could be harmful to even