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January Littlejohn, et vir v. School Board of Leon County, Florida, et al.
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, No. 23-10385 · judgment March 12, 2025
Before the decision, roughly the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for counsel who has won certiorari before and an Eleventh Circuit decision below.
Question presented
Whether a public school “violates parents’ fundamental constitutional right” when it secretly helps “transition” their child to a new “gender” is “a question of great and growing national importance.” Parents Protecting Our Child. v. Eau Claire ASD, 145 S.Ct. 14 (2024) (Alito, J., dissenting from denial of certiorari) (cleaned up). Another petition raising that question is currently before this Court in Foote v. Ludlow School Committee, No. 25-77. The Eleventh Circuit reached that question below, though its decision turned on a threshold issue of constitutional law with even broader implications. Because the parents here challenged a school’s past application of a parental-exclusion policy to their child, the Eleventh Circuit said they were challenging “executive” conduct. Plaintiffs who challenge “executive” conduct, the court continued, must prove that the infringement of their fundamental rights “shocked the conscience.” That decision deepens a circuit split over the proper standard for alleging fundamental-rights claims against executive actors. And it immediately created another circuit split over the meaning of “executive.” Though Judge Newsom felt bound to join this 2-1 decision, he agreed it “makes no sense.” The question presented is: When a plaintiff alleges that the application of a state policy infringed a fundamental right “‘deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition,’” Washington v. Glucksberg, 521 U.S. 702, 720-21 (1997), can a court deny relief because the infringement did not “shock the conscience”?
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Cameron Thomas Norris
Consovoy McCarthy PLLC
For respondent
Mark Herron
Case
Conference history
Distributed for 12 conferences
Amicus briefs
10 cert-stage
Proceedings
- Apr 27 2026Petition DENIED.
- Apr 20 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/24/2026.
- Apr 16 2026Rescheduled.
- Apr 13 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/17/2026.
- Mar 31 2026Rescheduled.
- Mar 30 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/2/2026.
- Mar 25 2026Rescheduled.
- Mar 23 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/27/2026.
- Mar 18 2026Rescheduled.
- Mar 16 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/20/2026.
- Mar 09 2026Supplemental brief of respondents School Board of Leon County, Florida, et al. filed.
- Mar 09 2026Supplemental brief of petitioners January Littlejohn, et vir filed.
- Mar 05 2026Rescheduled.
- Mar 02 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/6/2026.
- Feb 26 2026Rescheduled.
- Feb 23 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/27/2026.
- Feb 19 2026Rescheduled.
- Feb 13 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/20/2026.
- Jan 21 2026Rescheduled.
- Jan 20 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/23/2026.
- Jan 14 2026Rescheduled.
- Jan 12 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/16/2026.
- Jan 06 2026Rescheduled.
- Dec 16 2025DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/9/2026.
- Dec 16 2025Reply of petitioners January Littlejohn, et vir filed. (Distributed)
- Dec 09 2025Waiver of the 14-day waiting period for the distribution of the petition pursuant to Rule 15.5 filed by petitioners.
- Dec 09 2025Brief of respondents School Board of Leon County, Florida, et al. in opposition filed.
- Nov 25 2025Brief amicus curiae of Abigail Martinez filed.
- Nov 14 2025Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted in part and the time is extended to and including December 9, 2025.
- Nov 13 2025Motion to extend the time to file a response from November 28, 2025 to December 29, 2025, submitted to The Clerk.
- Nov 13 2025Response to motion to extend the time to file a response from petitioners filed.
- Oct 28 2025Response Requested. (Due November 28, 2025)
- Oct 22 2025DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/7/2025.
- Oct 06 2025Brief amici curiae of Advancing American Freedom, et al. filed.
- Oct 06 2025Brief amicus curiae of Dr. Erica E. Anderson filed.
- Oct 06 2025Brief amici curiae of Manhattan Institute, et al. filed.
- Oct 06 2025Brief amicus curiae of Tammy Fournier filed.
- Oct 06 2025Brief amici curiae of Florida, et al. filed.
- Oct 06 2025Brief amicus curiae of Our Duty–USA and Genspect USA filed.
- Oct 06 2025Brief amici curiae of National Legal Foundation, et al. filed.
- Oct 03 2025Brief amicus curiae of Defending Education filed.
- Sep 30 2025Brief amici curiae of NC Values Institute, et al. filed.
- Sep 03 2025Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due October 6, 2025)