ACLU challenges constitutionality of state’s book removal law
Stephen King’s 1982 collection “Different Seasons” was banned from all Utah public school libraries on July 6 after the Davis, Jordan, Tooele and Washington school districts decided to remove the collection, the Utah State Board of Education said. The book, previously available to students in grades 7 through 12, contains four novellas including “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: Hope Springs Eternal” and “The Body: Fall from Innocence” — works adapted into the classic films “The Shawshank Redemption” and “Stand By Me.” The other two novellas in the collection are “Apt Pupil: Summer of Corruption” and “The Breathing Method: A Winter’s Tale.”
Under Utah state code, a book is automatically removed from every public school in the state when at least three school districts, or two districts and five charter schools, classify it as containing “objective sensitive material.” The statute defines that term as instructional material that is “pornographic or indecent,” “harmful to minors,” or that “includes certain fondling or other erotic touching.”
With the addition of King’s collection, 36 books are now banned from public school shelves statewide, according to the state board. Among the other removed titles is “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.”
The ban comes amid an ongoing legal challenge to Utah’s book removal statute. The American Civil Liberties Union of Utah filed a lawsuit in January against state officials on behalf of the estate of Kurt Vonnegut and several other bestselling authors, arguing that the law is unconstitutional under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. In a news release announcing the lawsuit, the ACLU accused Utah of “trampling on the protections guaranteed by the First Amendment.”
Stephen King is the most banned author in U.S. schools, according to a report cited by The Guardian.