The state of California has been ordered to pay $4.5 million after failing to defend a law that barred school officials from informing parents about their children’s gender-related issues.
In a ruling issued Monday, Roger Benitez of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California approved a request from several California teachers and parents, awarding them more than $4.5 million in attorneys’ fees following their successful legal challenge to the policy.
Benitez had previously ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in a decision handed down late last year.
Although the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit later overturned that ruling, the plaintiffs took their case to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Last month, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to allow Benitez’s original decision to stand, effectively nullifying the 2024 California law at the heart of the dispute.
The challenged law stated that “[A]n employee or a contractor of a school district, county office of education, charter school, or state special school for the blind or the deaf shall not be required to disclose any information related to a pupil’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to any other person without the pupil’s consent unless otherwise required by state or federal law.”
Attorneys from the Thomas More Society, who represented the plaintiffs, responded to the decision in statements released Tuesday.
“A $4.5 million fee award sends an unmistakable message to state governments and school districts across the country: If you trample the constitutional rights of parents, you will pay for it — literally,” said Peter Breen.
Paul Jonna, special counsel at the Thomas More Society and partner at LiMandri & Jonna LLP, said the ruling reflects “the enormous amount of work it took to overcome a state government that tried to cut parents out of decisions about their own children’s upbringing and well-being.”
He further stated, “This order confirms that California’s decision to trample parental rights was not only unconstitutional, but costly. Every school district and government official is now on notice and should ensure full compliance with the court’s injunction.”
A 2023 report from Parents Defending Education found that more than 1,000 school districts nationwide had adopted policies allowing or encouraging staff to withhold information from parents regarding a child’s desire to identify as transgender or nonbinary.
