Mom: “Why Didn’t You Tell Me?” Court: “Let’s Take Another Look”

Panel vacates lower court's dismissal of parent complaint regarding school district preferred pronoun policy, alleging substantive and procedural due process violationsThe Ninth Circuit vacated the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by Aurora Regino, who claimed that a California school district violated her due process rights by not informing her when her 11-year-old child requested to be addressed by a new name and male pronouns. The Chico Unified School District's policy requires staff to affirm a student’s gender identity without parental notification unless there’s evidence of impropriety. Regino argued the policy excluded parents from major decisions affecting their children. The district court dismissed the case, applying the “clearly established” standard used in qualified immunity cases. The Ninth Circuit ruled this was the wrong legal test for evaluating due process claims and sent the case back for further review.