This week the Rare Book Cafe newsroom opens with a hot First Amendment booksellers' rights case

Rare Book Cafe's May 20 program picks up a story we've been following since last fall: AB 1570, California's passed-with-no-thought bookseller regulatory nightmare law.

The law, which went on the books January 1, imposes all sorts of crushing and irrelevant record-keeping requirements on booksellers who deal in autographed books as collateral damage to actor Mark Hamill's beef that fake-autographed Star Wars memorabilia cuts into his income.

Passed with no serious debate and signed by Governor Brown with no apparent thought, the law makes book dealers liable for actual damages, punitive damages, and legal fees for selling a signed book without a certificate of authenticity that, in the case of old signed books is literally impossible to comply with.

Further, a California resident who doesn't like a book s/he bought online can sue any bookseller in America for failure to comply with California law. One of Rare Book Cafe's hosts, Lindsay Thompson of Henry Bemis Books, announced a regretful embargo on sale to California residents the day the law went into effect.

Co-host Steve Eisenstein hosted The Churchill Book Collector co-owner and former California State Assembly aide Mark Kuritz last November 28 to discuss AB 1570; LA dealer John Howell was a guest on Rare Book Cafe to talk, in part, about the law last January 28.

Saturday's guest will be Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Alexandra Boden, who has filed a federal court case against the California Attorney General to block enforcement of the law and have the court declare it an unconstitutional infringement of Americans' First Amendment free speech and expression rights.

The show streams live on the Cafe and Florida Antiquarian Book Fair Facebook pages and will be archived on the Book Fair's YouTube Channel with nearly two hundred hours of past programs and other book events video.

Join us for this fascinating discussion, starting at 2:30 pm, Saturday, May 20! Until then, here is attorney Boden explaining the basis for her suit the day it was filed:

Hosted by Miami book dealer, appraiser and WDBFRadio.com’s Bucks on the Bookshelf radio show creator Steven Eisenstein, the program features a revolving set of cohosts and regular guests including Thorne Donnelley of Liberty Book Store in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida; Lindsay Thompson of Charlotte’s Henry Bemis Books; miniature books expert Edie Eisenstein; Little Sages Books owner Kara Accettola, and program creator/producer T. Allan Smith.

Rare Book Cafe program encourages viewer participation via its interactive features and video: if you've got an interesting book, join the panel and show it to us! If you’d like to ask the team a question or join us in the virtually live studio audience for the program, write us at rarebookcafe@gmail.com.