Texas county officials urged the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Tuesday to overturn circuit precedent in their challenge to a court order requiring that eight books about sex, gender and racism be returned to library shelves.

Former Texas Solicitor General Jonathan Mitchell, representing Llano County, pressed the Fifth Circuit to overturn its 1995 decision in Campbell v. St Tammany Parish School Board that the First Amendment's free speech clause limits the power of public librarians to remove books if they are doing so to deny access to a viewpoint.