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Wandler spoke in support of SB 13, telling lawmakers it "empowers parental access" and "mandates accountability with the school districts." His investment in the bill's passage wasn't merely rhetorical: Public records show Bookmarked spent at least $80,000 lobbying in favor of the measure, and later hired the powerful Texas lobbying firm Moak Casey to help promote its cause.
According to the ACLU, books "quarantined" by DoDEA schools included classics like To Kill a Mockingbird and Fahrenheit 451, more recent titles like The Kite Runner, A Queer History of the United States, the children's book Julián Is a Mermaid, and even Vice President JD Vance's 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy. Lawyers for the DOD reportedly argued that the removals constituted "government speech" and thus were shielded from First Amendment scrutiny.