The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado on Thursday filed a lawsuit against the Elizabeth School District over its decision to ban nearly two dozen books.

The books — the ACLU listed 19, while the district said 18 — included Toni Morrison’s “Beloved,” Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner,“ Rebecca Felix’s “#Pride: Championing LGBTQ Rights,” and Angie Thomas’ “The Hate U Give.”

The ACLU’s lawsuit represents two students from the district, the NAACP’s Colorado–Montana–Wyoming State Area Conference and the Authors Guild.

The ACLU said the district’s decision to remove books from school libraries violated federal and state constitutional free speech protections, while the district maintained that the books are inappropriate for school-age children.

Earlier this summer, the school district created a committee to oversee the review of books it deemed “sensitive” and the panel eventually identified 19. The district officially banned the books in September. 

In its lawsuit, the ACLU claimed that the selection of books disproportionately targeted members of the Black and LGTBQ communities, and that the decision was ideologically driven. 

“The board seeks to impose a political orthodoxy in ESD schools and ensure that content-including reading material-that is available to children in Elizabeth schools aligns with board members’ personal political preferences, which they describe as conservative,” the lawsuit said.  

In a statement, Superintendent Dan Snowberger said called the lawsuit a “political attack.”  

“We are disappointed that the district is being tied up in a political attack. (Elizabeth School District) intends to vigorously defend itself and decisions made in the best interest of our children,” Snowberger said in a public statement Thursday.

In a follow-up Facebook post, Snowberger claimed parents “overwhelmingly” requested to ban the books because of their lack of educational value, violence, sexual content, racism and religious viewpoints.

He said the books could be checked out from any public library.

“I find it odd that the federal government requires us to have internet filters in place to prevent students from accessing inappropriate content — much of what is present in these books, however there is a question when a school district takes action to prevent students from accessing it in print,” he said.