A Colorado school district is once again under court order to put 19 books it had deemed “highly sensitive” back on its library shelves.
The Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday denied the Elizabeth School District’s request to pause the court’s preliminary injunction from earlier this month that ordered the titles to be re-shelved. In doing so, the appellate court also lifted a temporary stay on the order.
The fate of the 19 books — most of which center the stories of people of color or LGBTQ individuals — has played out through a series of court rulings in response to a December lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado alleging the books’ removal violated free speech protections.
A representative from the Elizabeth School District did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“The courts have once again confirmed what has always been true: the Elizabeth School District cannot remove books just because they don’t align with the board’s preferred political beliefs,” Tim Macdonald, ACLU of Colorado’s legal director, said in a statement. “Ensuring students have access to a diversity of viewpoints in their school libraries is in the best interest of all students, parents and teachers. We look forward to seeing the books returned to school library shelves.”
The court has yet to set a new deadline for the books to be returned.
Elizabeth school board members voted in the fall to remove the 19 titles — including “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini, Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” and “The Bluest Eye,” and Angie Thomas’ “The Hate U Give” — from library shelves because they contained passages describing sexual activity, “controversial social and political commentary,” “alternate sexualities,” “hate” and abortion.
A federal judge has twice before ordered the books to be returned to Elizabeth School District libraries, but appeals from the district stalled those court orders both times.
Books the Elizabeth School District has removed from shelves:
- “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas
- “Thirteen Reasons Why” by Jay Asher
- “#Pride: Championing LGBTQ Rights “by Rebecca Felix
- “You Should See Me in a Crown” by Leah Johnson
- “It’s Your World — If You Don’t Like It, Change It: Activism for Teenagers” by Mikki Halpin
- “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini
- “Beloved” and “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison
- “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky
- “Looking for Alaska” by John Green
- “Nineteen Minutes” by Jodi Picoult
- “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson
- “Identical,” “Fallout,” “Glass,” “Burned,” “Crank” and “Smoke” by Ellen Hopkins
- “George” by Alex Gino
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