The United States Supreme Court has declined to hear a Maine mom’s case against a Damariscotta school in which she alleges they withheld information from her about her child’s gender transition.
In December of 2022, mother Amber Lavigne discovered that a then-26-year-old social worker by the name of Samuel Roy had given her 13-year-old child two breast binders — garments designed to conceal the appearance of a female’s breasts — and provided instructions on their use.
Lavigne also said that she was not told when Roy and other school officials began to use an alternative name and pronoun set for her child, a fact that was subsequently denied by Great Salt Bay Community School (GSBCS) officials.
In May of last year, District Court Judge Jon D. Levy found that the mother — Amber Lavigne — failed to state a claim because the facts provided in this case were insufficient to establish municipal liability.
Since the judge’s reasoning then was based solely on Lavigne’s inability to show that the municipality could legally be found responsible for the alleged violations, he did not address the underlying constitutional questions associated with Lavigne’s claims.
Later that month, Lavigne appealed this dismissal to the First Circuit Court of Appeals, which ultimately upheld the ruling in July.
The petition for a writ of certiorari filed with the Supreme Court by Lavigne and her legal team had asked the Justices to consider two primary questions with respect to her case.
Firstly, she asks the Court to weigh in on the procedural issue of whether or not a case may be dismissed due to the presence of a “probable alternative explanation” or if the plaintiff’s explanation itself must be found implausible.
Secondly, the petition looks to have the Justices rule directly whether or not parents’ “fundamental constitutional rights” include the right to notification when a public school “affirmatively recognize[s] and facilitate[s] a child’s gender transition.”
Lavigne’s legal team expressed disappointment in the Court’s decision.
“It signals to schools across the country, and especially in Maine, that hiding information from parents does not run afoul of the Constitution,” Adam Shelton, the Goldwater Institute’s senior staff attorney on Lavigne’s case, said in a statement.
“We are hopeful that the Supreme Court will one day hold that a public school’s policy that permits a social worker to give a child a chest binder and other school officials to socially transition a child without ever telling parents violates the Constitution’s protection for parental rights,” Shelton added.
The Supreme Court did not provide a reason for their decision to decline Lavigne’s petition.
