A judge ruled in favor of a group of teachers and parents after the state was sued.
By Catholics for Catholics
A federal judge in San Diego has directed more than $4.5 million in attorney’s fees to be paid to the Thomas More Society in reimbursement for fighting California’s gender secrecy policies that hide from parents how their children articulate gender identity in a public school.
The state of California was ordered to pay after losing its attempt to defend a state law prohibiting school officials from informing parents about their children’s gender dysphoria, according to a story by The Christian Post.
Judge Roger Benitez of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, in an order published Monday, granted the request of several California teachers and parents for more than $4.5 million in attorneys’ fees after their victory in a lawsuit challenging the state’s policy prohibiting schools from informing parents if their child wishes to identify as a member of the opposite sex.
Benitez sided with the plaintiffs in a ruling issued late last year.
After the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Benitez’s decision, the plaintiffs appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Last month, the justices ruled 6-3 that Benitez’s decision could remain in effect, thereby invalidating the 2024 California law at the center of the litigation.
Attorneys at the Thomas More Society, which represented the plaintiffs, reacted to Benitez’s decision in a series of statements published 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 Thomas More Society Executive Vice President and Head of Litigation Peter Breen.
“California threw everything it had at this case. It lost at summary judgment, lost at the Supreme Court, and now Californians will foot the bill for their government officials’ refusal to respect the fundamental rights of families,” he added.
Paul Jonna, special counsel at the Thomas More Society and partner at LiMandri & Jonna LLP, praised the court’s award as reflective of “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.”
A 2023 report from the conservative activist organization Parents Defending Education states that more than 1,000 school districts across the United States had taken policies that allow or counsel personnel to suppress information from parents about their child’s desire to identify as trans or nonbinary.
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