The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal by parents suing a Florida school district that socially transitioned their daughter without their knowledge or consent.
In 2020, the Littlejohns’ then-13-year-old daughter met with school officials at Deerlake Middle School in Tallahassee regarding her gender confusion. School officials did not notify her parents or obtain their consent before socially transitioning her — recognizing her as a boy while at school. A counselor, social worker, and principal met privately with the child to develop a support plan that included a preferred name and pronouns. The parents learned about the meeting from their daughter several days later.
The parents filed a lawsuit in October 2021. January Littlejohn stated she believed officials were “colluding with my daughter to deceive us.” A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit ruled 2-1 against the parents, concluding the school’s actions did not “shock the conscience.” The Leon County School Board subsequently revised its procedures in June 2022 to require parental notification.
Trump-appointed Circuit Judge Kevin Newsom, while concurring in the ruling against the parents, called the school administrators’ actions “shameful” — but concluded they did not meet the constitutional threshold under the substantive due process standard. Six or more of the nine Supreme Court justices declined to take up the case without comment.
The decision stands in notable contrast to a ruling just last month in which the Supreme Court held that California could not require school districts to withhold gender transition information from parents. By declining to hear the Littlejohn case, the Court leaves unresolved whether schools across the country may secretly socially transition students without parental knowledge or consent.