The Supreme Court Case Ginzburg v. United States was regarding Ralph Ginzburg and several of his associate’s mailing circulars which detailed how and where to obtain obscene publications. This led to him being charged with violating a federal obscenity statute, which Ginzburg would appeal to the Supreme Court.

After hearing arguments, the court ruled against Ginzburg in a 5-4 decision saying that although the circulars themselves were not obscene, the content in which they were advertising was which violated the statute. But in his dissenting opinion, Associate Justice Potter Stewart “Censorship reflects a society’s lack of confidence in itself.”

Recently, a book ban went into effect across Utah, taking 13 books out of schools. Those books are:

• What Girls are Made of by Elana K. Arnold
• Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood 
• Forever by Judy Blume
• Tilt by Ellen Hopkins
• Fallout by Ellen Hopkins
• Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
• A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas 
• A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas 
• A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
• A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas
• A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
• Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas
• Blankets by Craig Thompson

This ban is possible through House Bill 29, which builds upon the older House Bill 374 also known as the “Sensitive Materials in Schools Act.” Through this bill, the state can remove books from schools statewide if at least three school districts, or two districts and five charter schools determine the book is pornographic or otherwise offensive.

The ban also makes it so that the books must be thrown out, they cannot be sold or given away, a provision which has alarmed some,” You have to actually throw out books, that I think is just an alarming image for where we’re at.” said Kasey Meehan, Freedom to Read program director at PEN America.

The bill’s language has been stated to,” eerily echo historical instances of book burning and suppression of ideas.” by The Authors Guild.

The bill does have its supporters however, with Utah State School Board member Natalie Cline, who lost her primary election earlier this year, stating,” Removing only those 13 books when there are hundreds more that are just as explicit, that also need to go, is problematic.”

But on a local level, how does this affect our local schools? Castle Country Radio reached out to each district for answers.

Emery

Superintendent Jim Shank answered our questions regarding how the ban looked in the Emery School District.

First, we asked what the process of following the ban looked like in the district,” When we received notice from the Utah State Board of Education to remove the list of books, each school did a search for those titles and then reported that library shelves and classroom sets complied with the order.”

We then asked if there were any books the district would consider challenging,” As of this date, principals have not indicated any titles they would consider challenging.”

As for the process of requesting a ban or requesting an appeal for a book, Shank stated,” I would direct community members to the Utah State Board of Education to express their concerns and request an appeal of the titles.”

Carbon

In the Carbon School District, Superintendent Mika Salas responded to our request for comment.

We asked the same questions to Superintendent Salas as we did to Superintendent Shank, with Salas stating that the process of following the ban and any updates to it,” The Carbon School District must follow the legislative mandates put in place each year.” She continued,” Our Library Media Specialist attends state meetings, updates librarians in all schools regarding necessary changes, and keeps us apprised of the requirements from the state.”

One provision of this bill is that schools must provide a way for parents to challenge books,” One of the requirements is to have a mechanism for parents to challenge material in our schools. We have a ‘Library Media Challenge Form’ on our district website. We have had the challenge form posted since last year as per the mandate. We have not yet had a challenge.” 

Mining with KOAL is a new investigative journalism series from Castle Country Radio. For suggestions or tips email news@koal.net.