SALT LAKE CITY — The trial over a Utah law allowing the state to ban a near-record number of books from school libraries now has a court date, although it's quite a few chapters away.
Filings obtained by FOX 13 News show the trial will begin next November, but will not be heard in front of a jury. Instead, all parties have agreed to allow U.S. District Court Judge Robert Shelby to decide the legality of the law.
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Earlier this year, the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah filed the lawsuit on behalf of the estate of renowned author Kurt Vonnegut and other acclaimed authors. Utah Attorney General Derek Brown, the Utah State Board of Education, and several local school districts and their superintendents are listed as plaintiffs.
As of November, Utah had banned 44 books from school libraries.
A 2022 Utah law allows a book to be removed from school libraries if at least three local school districts, or at least two school districts and five charter schools, claim its content contains "objective sensitive material."
None of Vonnegut's books are on the state's list, but the lawsuit claims Slaughterhouse-Five, his popular novel, was removed from Washington School District libraries after being deemed "pornographic."