“John Doe,” an asylum-seeker attending elementary school within the School District of Philadelphia, was harassed by classmates based on his perceived sexual orientation and national origin. His mother, Leslie Hernández, encouraged John to ask his principal for help. Rather than provide support to stop the harassment and protect John’s education, the principal threatened to call…
Active Day is a Medicaid provider that operates the country’s largest network of daytime care services for adults with developmental disabilities. The company provides these services in accordance with the Intellectual Disability/Related Disabilities Medicaid Waiver (ID/RD)—a program that permits states to offer an array of home and community-based services that an individual with intellectual disabilities…
California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta filed this case to challenge a new policy that Chino Valley Unified School District adopted in July 2023. The policy requires schools to “out” transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming students to their parents, even when those students reasonably fear their unsupportive parents learning about their identities. For example, under the…
Public Justice recently represented economist Loren Adler in a petition to unseal court records. The records were part of a qui tam (“private citizen”) False Claims Act case. That case, brought by former employees of private equity-backed Team Health, accused the company of defrauding Medicare and several state Medicaid programs by billing for medical services…
Megan Roe and Jane Doe are 11- and 15-year-old girls who want to try out for their schools’ girls’ volleyball, soccer, and cross-country teams. But a new Arizona law would prevent them from doing so because they are transgender. They challenged the law in court, and Public Justice joined an amicus brief in support of…
What’s at Stake Michigan students’ right to learn free from harassment Summary Jane Doe attended Alpena Public Schools in Michigan. In fourth grade, a classmate sexually harassed her repeatedly. Her school did not stop the harassment. Jane sued her school in state court under Michigan’s anti-discrimination law. The case poses two legal questions: when a school…
Schools that accept special tax benefits should not be allowed to discriminate against their students. Public Justice filed an amicus brief asking the Fourth Circuit to affirm that federal civil rights laws like Title IX apply to schools that receive § 501(c)(3) tax breaks. Five female students experienced sexual assault or verbal sexual harassment while…
Public Justice is lead appellate counsel in Whitson v. Hanna, in which the Tenth established that a county is liable when a “final policymaker”, like an elected sheriff, commits a criminal or tortious act, like sexual assault, while carrying out their official duties. Peatinna Biggs is a woman with intellectual disabilities who was being held at…
For decades, the Monterey County Jail in Monterey, California has abused the civil rights of the people it cages. The suicide rate at the jail is over three times the average for California jails, and the death rate at the jail is over two times the national average. In this calendar year alone, four people…