The ACLU of Utah has identified 37 books currently facing bans or challenges within Utah schools, according to an August 12 statement. The organization has launched a Banned Book Club to encourage Utahns to read the titles targeted by censorship efforts.
The ACLU of Utah filed a federal lawsuit, Vonnegut v. Utah, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah on January 6, 2026. The lawsuit argues that the provisions of HB 29 are unconstitutionally overbroad and violate the First Amendment by stripping books from shelves without considering literary value, context, or the reader's age. The defendants named in the suit include the Utah State Board of Education, Utah Attorney General Derek Brown, and three school districts.
The legal action follows the passage of HB 29, which took effect on July 1, 2024. This law allows for a statewide removal of books from every K-12 public school library if three school districts ban a book for containing what is deemed objectively sensitive material. This mechanism means that decisions made by less than 10% of Utah's districts and charters can dictate what all students in the state may check out from school libraries. The law retroactively banned 13 books statewide upon its implementation.
The ACLU of Utah noted that book bans in schools increased from 12 during the 2021–2022 school year to 281 the following year. According to the report, the targeted titles were overwhelmingly written by and about Black, Indigenous, and LGBTQ+ people. Currently, 36 titles have been banned statewide from every public school in Utah.
The lawsuit seeks to have the court declare the statewide ban provisions of HB 29 facially unconstitutional and order the immediate return of removed books to school shelves. The ACLU of Utah stated it remains committed to fighting to uphold the right to learn and the freedom to read for all Utahns.
