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…
In 2021, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued guidance about discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Two Texas-based doctors filed a lawsuit challenging that guidance, arguing that healthcare providers can lawfully discriminate against LGBTQ patients, so long as they equally mistreat both “biological men” and “biological women.” Public Justice filed…
Becky is a 12-year-old girl who wants to run for her middle school’s cross-country and track teams. But a new West Virginia law would ban her from doing so because she is transgender. Becky challenged the law in court, and Public Justice has joined an amicus brief to support her appeal. West Virginia’s ban is…
Zara Moss was a four-time All-American athlete on Penn State’s Division I fencing team, and a former Olympic prospect But she was forced to give up the sport she loved. Why? Because for years, Penn State ignored gender-based harassment and abuse by its head fencing coach, Wieslaw Glon. Zara sued Penn State and Glon in…
This federal civil rights case involves the tragic death of Nigel Shelby, a Black, out gay freshman at Alabama’s Huntsville High School who died by suicide at age 15 after experiencing unchecked LGBTQ+ harassment and race discrimination at school. Nigel never felt safe at Huntsville High School. Students subjected him to anti-gay slurs nearly every…
Public Justice filed two amicus briefs in support of the Appellant in Doe v. University of Kentucky, a rape case involving the scope of Title IX’s prohibitions on harassment and retaliation. In 2014, plaintiff Jane Doe was enrolled in a program at a community college that partners with the University of Kentucky. Three weeks into…
This case challenges Harvard University’s decade-long failure to protect students from sexual harassment and career-ending retaliation by Professor John Comaroff, one of the most world’s most renowned and powerful scholars in the field of anthropology. The complaint alleges that Harvard hired Professor Comaroff despite warnings that he sexually harassed students at the University of Chicago,…
In this case, the Seventh Circuit held that a student-survivor’s resilience will not shield a university from civil rights liability for mishandling a report of sexual assault. While a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Jane Doe was sexually assaulted by a star member of the University’s football team. The University, through its own disciplinary…