No. 25-759

Amber Lavigne v. Great Salt Bay Community School Board

Lower Court: First Circuit
Docketed: 2025-12-29
Status: Pending
Type: Paid
Amici (3)Response RequestedResponse Waived
Tags: 12b6-motion circuit-split constitutional-rights gender-transition parental-rights plausibility-standard school-policy
Latest Conference: N/A
Question Presented (from Petition)

In December 2022, Petitioner discovered a chest binder in her 13-year-old child's room. After speaking with her child, she learned that a social worker at her child's public school had given her child the binder and that others had "socially transitioned" the child by using a different name and pronouns. No one from the school informed Petitioner of these decisions, and despite a written policy requiring parental involvement in such decisions, school officials have repeatedly said that school staff violated no policy by withholding this information. Petitioner sued the School Board, alleging the existence of an unwritten policy allowing employees to make these decisions without informing parents, which violated Petitioner's fundamental right to control and direct the education and upbringing of her child. The First Circuit dismissed Petitioner's claims, however, determining that there was a more probable "alternative explanation" than the existence of an unwritten policy. In doing so, the court widened an entrenched circuit split over the application of the Twombly /Iqbal "plausibility" requirement.

The questions presented are:

1. Whether a court can rely on a probable alternative explanation at the 12(b)(6) stage to dismiss a claim, as five circuits hold, or whether a complaint can only be dismissed if the plaintiff's explanation is itself implausible, as three circuits hold.

2. Whether a parent's fundamental constitutional rights include the right to be notified when public schools affirmatively recognize and facilitate a child's gender-transition.

Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether a court can rely on a probable alternative explanation at the 12(b)(6) stage to dismiss a claim, and whether a parent's fundamental constitutional rights include the right to be notified when public schools affirmatively recognize and facilitate a child's gender transition

Docket Entries

2026-02-23
Amicus brief of Manhattan Institute submitted.
2026-02-23
Amicus brief of State of South Carolina and 18 Other States submitted.
2026-02-23
Brief of Great Salt Bay Community School Board in opposition submitted.
2026-02-23
Amicus brief of America's Frontline Doctors and Dr. Simone Gold, M.D., J.D. submitted.
2026-02-23
Brief of respondent Great Salt Bay Community School Board in opposition filed.
2026-02-23
Brief amici curiae of South Carolina, et al. filed.
2026-02-23
Brief amicus curiae of Manhattan Institute filed.
2026-02-23
Brief amici curiae of America's Frontline Doctors, et al. filed.
2026-01-22
Response Requested. (Due February 23, 2026)
2026-01-21
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/20/2026.
2026-01-07
Waiver of right of respondent Great Salt Bay Community School Board to respond filed.
2025-12-22
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due January 28, 2026)
2025-10-16
Application (25A436) granted by Justice Jackson extending the time to file until December 22, 2025.
2025-10-08
Application (25A436) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from October 26, 2025 to December 22, 2025, submitted to Justice Jackson.

Attorneys

Amber Lavigne
Adam Christopher SheltonGoldwater lnstitute, Petitioner
America's Frontline Doctors and Dr. Simone Gold, M.D., J.D.
David Anthony DaliaDavid A. Dalia, Amicus
Great Salt Bay Community School Board
Kasia Soon ParkDrummond Woodsum, Respondent
Susan M. WeidnerDrummond Woodsum, Respondent
Manhattan Institute
Ilya ShapiroManhattan Institute, Amicus
State of South Carolina and 18 Other States
Joseph David SpateSouth Carolina Attorney General's Office, Amicus