In November 2024, Public Justice and its co-counsel filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of a transgender teen, “John Doe,” his family, and Alliance for Full Acceptance (AFFA), an LGBTQ+ rights organization, to protect transgender students in South Carolina whose civil rights are being violated. Specifically, the lawsuit challenged a South Carolina budget proviso…
While a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Isabelle Arana was sexually assaulted by a star member of the University’s football team. The University, through its own disciplinary process, determined Isabelle’s report was true and expelled the football player. But when he was criminally tried for the same assault and acquitted — a proceeding that…
We fought in the courts for a Title IX rule that better protects pregnant and postpartum students. In 2025, two federal courts in Kentucky and Texas struck down the Biden administration’s 2024 Title IX Rule after conservative individuals, organizations, and states brought nine lawsuits across the country challenging the 2024 Rule. As a result, the…
Statement on the U.S. Department of Education lawsuit to restore Office for Civil Rights Staff: “Yesterday, we amended our lawsuit against the government’s efforts to dismantle the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights to bring the case as a class action. As part of our amended complaint, another family has also come forward to…
Public Justice’s statement in response to the Supreme Court’s denial of South Carolina’s application for a stay of a Fourth Circuit injunction allowing a transgender ninth-grader to use school restrooms consistent with his gender identity. “Today’s decision from the Supreme Court reaffirms what we all know to be true: Contrary to South Carolina’s insistence, trans…
Public Justice’s statement in response to South Carolina’s request that the Supreme Court of the United States intervene in a transgender student’s appeal: “South Carolina wants the Supreme Court to take the extraordinary remedy of intervening in an ongoing lower court appeal – all because the state wants to stop one ninth grader from using…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has enjoined the State of South Carolina, a South Carolina school district, and other defendants from denying a transgender boy access to boys’ restrooms at school when he starts high school today. The appeals court granted an injunction pending appeal in a lawsuit challenging the state’s…
Media Contact: Nicole Funaro | nfunaro@publicjustice.net WASHINGTON, D.C. — A student, “John Doe,” and his mother, “Jane Doe,” have filed a civil rights lawsuit against a Washington, D.C. private school, St. Anselm’s Abbey School. The lawsuit challenges the School’s failure to protect John Doe from daily harassment to which he was subjected based on his…
Families and victim rights advocates Victim Rights Law Center and other individuals, represented by Public Justice and pro bono co-counsel, have filed a lawsuit to challenge the Trump Administration’s decision to undermine the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) by imposing a massive reduction in force that cut half of the OCR’s staff and closed half its regional offices. The move closed a major…