Doe v. State of South Carolina

What’s at stake: The rights of transgender students in South Carolina to use restrooms consistent with their gender identity.

Summary: In 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit confirmed that transgender students must be allowed to use restrooms consistent with their gender identity. Yet, in the summer of 2024, South Carolina passed a law, Proviso 1.120, that forbids exactly that – part of the broader attack on trans people in the state and nationwide.

As a result, our client, a thirteen-year-old transgender student in Berkeley County, South Carolina, was suspended for using the boys’ restroom.

When he returned to school, our client, referred to as “John Doe,” suffered constant policing by school staff who were instructed to closely monitor his use of the restrooms. Teachers began, for the first time, separating their students into two lines—one for boys, and one for girls—to monitor who was using which restroom. On more than one occasion, a teacher yelled at John for trying to use the boys’ bathroom and prevented him from relieving himself. Eventually, his parents withdrew him from the school and enrolled him in an online program, which offers fewer educational and social opportunities than his in-person middle school.

In November 2024, Public Justice, along with two law firms, filed a class action lawsuit in South Carolina federal court on behalf of John, his family, and Alliance for Full Acceptance, a local LGBTQ+ rights organization. By bringing a class action lawsuit, John seeks to protect thousands of trans students across the state who are being denied their rights under Title IX, the law banning sex discrimination in school, and the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause.

On August 12, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit granted an injunction in John’s favor pending an appeal of the district court’s denial of the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction. The Fourth Circuit held that the state, school district, and other defendants are “enjoined from enforcing or complying with the ban on transgender students using restrooms that match their gender identities during the pendency of this appeal” with respect to John. The court also denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss the appeal. As a result of the injunction, John is free to use the boys’ bathrooms when he returns to the school district to begin ninth grade this fall.

On September 10, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court denied South Carolina’s request to stay the Fourth Circuit’s injunction and block John from using boys’ restrooms.

Core legal issue: The question at the heart of this lawsuit—whether transgender students have a right to use bathrooms consistent with their gender identity—has already been settled by the Fourth Circuit. Yet states and schools continue to violate the law. Courts need to hold them accountable and protect trans students’ rights.