(The Center Square) – Eighteen attorneys general led by Montana’s Austin Knudsen filed an amicus brief with an appeals court in support of parental rights in school in a case filed by Parents Defending Education against Linn-Mar School District in Iowa.
Represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, PDE sued in August in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Iowa, Cedar Rapids Division, arguing Linn Mar’s policy to withhold information about children from their parents is unconstitutional. PDE asked the court to issue a preliminary injunction to halt the policy while the case progressed. District Judge C.J. Williams denied their request in September.
The case is now before the St. Louis-based Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. So far, the AGs and 47 organizations filed briefs in support of PDE, including First Liberty Institute, Liberty Justice Center, Institute for Free Speech & Moms for Liberty, and the Justice Foundation & Parental Rights Iowa.
“Parents have a fundamental constitutional right to direct the upbringing and care of their children. School policies cannot intentionally leave parents in the dark about their child’s mental and emotional well-being,” Knudsen said. “The courts must step in to protect these kids and stop the violation of parental rights at the hands of woke school administrators.”
The AGs are “pushing back against woke school administrators who are encouraging students to ‘transition’ without their parents’ knowledge or consent,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who joined the AG coalition, said.
The AG’s asked the court to reverse Williams’ decision, arguing Linn-Mar’s policy causes “immediate and irreparable harm on parents by withholding information on their child’s gender identity.”
“Linn-Mar’s policy violates parents’ fundamental right to ‘to direct the upbringing of their children’ – ‘perhaps the oldest of the fundamental liberty interests recognized by [the Supreme] Court,’” they argue in their brief. “The policy inflicts an immediate and irreparable harm on parents by withholding information about whether their child has taken any action concerning his or her gender identity, leaving parents completely in the dark about their child’s mental and emotional well-being.”
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Joining Knudsen and Paxton are attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia.