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11 Barry L. Child & Fam. L.J. 1 (2023)

handle is hein.journals/cflj11 and id is 1 raw text is: A Conflict in the Courts: An Update on School Restroom Policies Suzanne Eckes * ABSTRACT Over the past ten years, courts have been asked to weigh in on whether students' rights are violated when school policies prohibit them from using restrooms that align with their gender identities. In the vast majority of legal cases, courts have rendered decisions favorable for the student. In December 2022, however, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a school district's policy prohibiting transgender students from using a restroom that matched their gender identity did not violate Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 nor the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Eleventh Circuit's en banc decision contradicts other federal circuit courts that have examined this issue. It has created a circuit split, potentially inviting U.S. Supreme Court review, if the student-plaintiff appeals. This article first identifies and briefly examines several of the court decisions that have addressed this issue. The article then discusses how a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court's decision aligns with the topic, and how the U.S. Department of Education has interpreted Title IX as it relates to this issue. This article concludes with an analysis of the Eleventh Circuit's recent decision, and discusses the decision's implications for students in K-12 public schools. The findings should be helpful to policy makers, lawyers, school officials, students, families, and scholars as this is the first article to highlight the evolution of most of the litigation in this area. * Suzanne Eckes is the Susan S. Engeleiter Professor of Education Law, Policy, and Practice at the University of Wisconsin School of Education. Much of her research focuses on how civil rights laws impact education policies in K- 12 public schools. She is a co-author or co-editor of several articles and books, including Legal Rights of School Leaders, Teachers and Students (8th ed., Pearson). She is a faculty affiliate with the University of Wisconsin Law School. The author would like to thank Dr. Colleen Chesnut, Maggie Paino, and Glenn Poole for their feedback and research assistance on this article. 1

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