South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson has joined a coalition of 21 states and Guam in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review Foote v. Ludlow School Committee, a case centered on parental rights in public schools.
The case concerns parents in Massachusetts whose eleven-year-old daughter was “socially transitioned” at school with a new name, pronouns, and bathroom access, while staff withheld this information from her parents. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld the school’s actions, allowing schools to make such decisions without parental consent.
“Parental rights don’t stop at the schoolhouse door. What happened in Massachusetts is a warning to every family in America, and South Carolina is standing up to stop it,” said Attorney General Wilson. “The Constitution makes it clear that parents, not government employees, have the first and final say in raising their children, especially on matters as sensitive and life-altering as a child’s upbringing and gender. We will not let activist school boards push parents to the sidelines.”
The coalition’s brief argues that the First Circuit’s decision goes against longstanding legal principles that recognize parents as primary decision-makers for their children. The brief asks the Supreme Court to review the case and clarify constitutional boundaries between families and public schools.
States joining South Carolina include Montana, West Virginia, Florida, Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, and Guam.
