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Parents Protecting Our Children, UA v. Eau Claire Area School District, Wisconsin, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, No. 23-1534 · judgment March 7, 2024


Certiorari denied · December 9, 2024
Pre-decision estimate: 2% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

The Eau Claire, Wisconsin School District (the “District”), like over a thousand other school districts across the country, has adopted a policy to facilitate gender identity transitions at school and to keep this hidden from parents who would disagree that it is in their child’s best interest to change gender identity. The District even trained all of its staff that “parents are not entitled to know their kids’ identities. That knowledge must be earned.” App.80. The plaintiff and petitioner in this case is an association of parents, all of whom have children in the District and do not want school district staff making decisions about their own children that are kept secret from them. Although they are subject to this policy and directly harmed by it, the District Court dismissed the case for lack of standing before it even got off the ground, and the Seventh Circuit affirmed. The question presented is: When a school district adopts an explicit policy to usurp parental decisionmaking authority over a major health-related decision—and to conceal this from the parents—do parents who are subject to such a policy have standing to challenge it?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Luke Nathaniel Berg
Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, Inc.

For respondent
Ronald S. Stadler
Stadler Sacks LLC

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 8 conferences

Amicus briefs
12 cert-stage

Argument & decision

Decided December 9, 2024.

Proceedings

  1. Dec 09 2024
    Petition DENIED. Justice Kavanaugh would grant the petition for a writ of certiorari. Justice Alito, with whom Justice Thomas joins, dissenting from the denial of certiorari. (Detached Opinion)
  2. Dec 02 2024
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/6/2024.
  3. Nov 18 2024
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/22/2024.
  4. Nov 12 2024
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/15/2024.
  5. Nov 04 2024
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/8/2024.
  6. Oct 28 2024
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/1/2024.
  7. Oct 16 2024
    Rescheduled.
  8. Oct 15 2024
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/18/2024.
  9. Oct 09 2024
    Rescheduled.
  10. Oct 07 2024
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/11/2024.
  11. Sep 27 2024
    Rescheduled.
  12. Jul 24 2024
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/30/2024.
  13. Jul 22 2024
    Reply of petitioner Parents Protecting Our Children, UA filed. (Distributed)
  14. Jul 08 2024
    Brief amici curiae of Virginia, et al. filed.
  15. Jul 08 2024
    Brief amici curiae of Manhattan Institute and Dr. Leor Sapir filed.
  16. Jul 08 2024
    Brief amici curiae of Liberty Justice Center and Dr. Erica Anderson filed.
  17. Jul 08 2024
    Brief amici curiae of Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori West filed.
  18. Jul 08 2024
    Brief amici curiae of America's Future, et al. filed.
  19. Jul 08 2024
    Brief amicus curiae of NC Values Institute filed.
  20. Jul 08 2024
    Brief amici curiae of Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, et al. filed.
  21. Jul 08 2024
    Brief amicus curiae of Parents Defending Education filed.
  22. Jul 08 2024
    Brief of respondents Eau Claire Area School District, Wisconsin, et al. in opposition filed.
  23. Jul 08 2024
    Brief amici curiae of Advancing American Freedom filed.
  24. Jul 03 2024
    Brief amicus curiae of Foundation for Moral Law filed.
  25. Jun 28 2024
    Brief amici curiae of Professors S. Ernie Walton and Eric A. DeGroff filed.
  26. Jun 26 2024
    Brief amicus curiae of Atlantic Legal Foundation filed.
  27. Jun 05 2024
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due July 8, 2024)