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Posted: October 28, 2024
Written by: Elizabeth WolsteinStanding Doctrine Strikes Again To Bar Professor’s First Amendment Challenge To DEI Mandates
A California federal court has again applied standing doctrine to insulate DEI policies from a facul… Read More
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Posted: May 17, 2024
Written by: Elizabeth WolsteinFourth Circuit Undoes District Court’s Judgment Upholding West Virginia Statute Barring Biological Males From Girls’ Sports Teams
Last year we wrote about BPJ v. West Virginia Bd. of Educ., in which the district court reverse… Read More
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Posted: March 15, 2024
Written by: Elizabeth WolsteinCurrent And Former Female College Athletes File Lawsuit Challenging NCAA Transgender Eligibility Policies
A group of current and former female college athletes has filed a sprawling class action lawsuit challenging NCAA policies that allow transgender women (biological men) to compete on women’s teams. The suit was filed on March 14, 2024, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, in Atlanta, against the NCAA, several Georgia public universities, and individual members of the Board of Regents of the University of Georgia system. It asserts claims for discrimination against women under... Read More
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Posted: March 13, 2024
Written by: Elizabeth WolsteinProspective Applicant For Faculty Position Lacked Standing To Challenge DEI Statement Requirement Because He Had Not Applied For Position; Second Circuit Rejects Association’s Standing To Challenge Pfizer Minorities-Only Fellowship
Standing doctrine takes center stage in today’s post. First up is a challenge to faculty DEI statements. A California district court has held that a prospective applicant for a faculty position lacked standing to challenge the university’s DEI statement requirement because he had not applied for the position. Thus, the court did not reach the merits of the plaintiff’s First Amendment claims for unconstitutional conditions and viewpoint discrimination. The case is Haltigan v. Drake, No. 23-cv-02437-EJD, 2024 WL 150729 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 12, 2024) (opinion here). Read More
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Posted: January 11, 2024
Written by: Elizabeth WolsteinEn Banc Second Circuit Rules Female Athletes Have Standing To Challenge High School Conference Rule Allowing Participation Of Transgender Girls On Girls Teams
The Second Circuit does not often sit en banc. But in December 2023, the en banc Court ruled t… Read More
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Posted: October 13, 2023
Written by: Elizabeth WolsteinImpressions of International Conference in Budapest on Challenges Facing the Judiciary
For today’s post we will take a break from the culture war so I can share my impressions of a conference in Budapest in which I participated, in late September, called Challenges Facing the Judiciary in the 21st Century. The conference was sponsored by Hungary’s University of Public Service and brought together judges, law professors, and others from Hungary and surrounding countries. I was a somewhat unique participant in that I was the only American, the only practicing lawyer, and the only panelist from a common law system. For my presentation, I sought to show how, in my opinion, constitutional analysis has become distorted in culture war cases such as those discussed in this blog. Read More
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Posted: September 12, 2023
Maryland District Court Rejects Parental Challenge To School Policy Barring Opt-Out Of LGBTQ-Themed Elementary School Curriculum
For today’s back-to-school edition, we consider a case pitting parental rights against school LGBTQ policies. In Mahmoud v. McKnight, Civ. No. DLB-23-1380, 2023 WL 5487218 (D. Md. Aug. 23, 2023), the district court rejected the plaintiff-parents’ efforts to opt out of instruction in LGBTQ-themed books. We also catch up with the appeal in John and Jane Parents 1 v. Montgomery County Bd. of Educ., a case discussed in our March 7, 2023 blog post, in which parents also mounted a losing challenge to school transgender policies. Coincidentally or not, both cases arise from the Montgomery County Maryland school district, outside Washington, DC. Read More
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Posted: June 14, 2023
Court Invalidates Tennessee Statute Banning Drag Shows For Children
It is a busy time in the culture war. On June 6 alone, the Second Circuit heard en banc oral a… Read More
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Posted: May 26, 2023
Written by: Elizabeth WolsteinTexas District Court Rejects Library’s Removal of Children’s Books Deemed Inappropriate
In today’s post, we consider a recent Texas case about the removal of library books. As the court explained, what the librarian giveth the librarian may not so easily taketh away. Read More
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Posted: April 6, 2023
Written by: Elizabeth WolsteinUpdate on B.P.J. v. West Virginia Board of Education – U.S. Supreme Court Denies State’s Application To Lift Fourth Circuit’s Injunction Pending Appeal
As an update to yesterday’s blog post, today the U.S. Supreme Court rejected West Virginia&rsq… Read More
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Posted: April 5, 2023
Written by: Elizabeth WolsteinWest Virginia District Court Reverses Itself To Uphold Statute Excluding Biological Boys From Girls Sports Teams
A West Virginia district court has reversed itself to uphold a state statute prohibiting biological … Read More
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Posted: March 7, 2023
Written by: Elizabeth WolsteinMaryland District Court Rejects Challenge To School Transgender Policy Allowing Withholding Of Information From Parents
Today’s inaugural post considers John & Jane Parents 1 v. Montgomery Cnty. Bd. of Educ., No. 8:20-3552-PWG, 2022 WL 3544256 (D. Md. Aug. 18, 2022), in which a group of parents challenged a public-school transgender policy. Under the School Board’s “Guidelines for Student Gender Identity,” schools could exclude Read More
