Overview
- The ACLU of Utah filed a 59-page federal complaint on Jan. 6 on behalf of the Kurt Vonnegut estate, authors Elana K. Arnold, Ellen Hopkins, and Amy Reed, and two anonymous high school students.
- The suit names Attorney General Derek Brown, the Utah State Board of Education and its members, and the Davis, Salt Lake City, and Washington County school districts and their superintendents as defendants.
- One day earlier, the state added Wicked, Nineteen Minutes, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower to the statewide list, bringing the total to 22 prohibited titles in public school libraries and classrooms.
- HB29 treats certain sexual content as “objective sensitive material” and requires statewide removal once three districts—or two districts plus five charter schools—deem a title sensitive, with retroactive application to prior local bans.
- Lawmakers defend the statute as a child-protection and local-control measure, while the complaint cites harms to authors and students, including the loss of access to books sought for support after trauma.