Judge orders California to pay $4.5M in legal fees

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(The Center Square) – A federal judge has ordered California to pay $4.52 million in attorneys’ fees to the Thomas More Society, which challenged a state policy related to student gender identity in the case Mirabelli v. Bonta.

In a court order, U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez of the Southern District of California granted the full fee request of $4.52 in legal fees to the Thomas More Society, the law firm representing the two public school teachers in the case.

Benitez said California has continued to challenge aspects of the ruling, including a recent motion seeking to modify the injunction. The court detailed a pattern of what it called “litigation intransigence” by state defendants, including repeated motions to dismiss after prior ones were denied and filing an appeal without waiting for a ruling.

Benitez described the ongoing litigation as based on “the thinnest of arguments.”

The case follows litigation that began in 2023 over California policies requiring school staff to withhold information from parents about students’ gender transitions.

The lawsuit challenges guidance critics describe as “gender secrecy” policies, which allow school officials to withhold information from parents about a student’s request to change names, pronouns or other gender-related identifiers at school.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision in March that parents challenging the policy are likely to succeed in their constitutional claims.

“Thomas More Society will continue to enforce the Mirabelli ruling nationwide, and any school district or state that tries to cut parents out of their children’s lives should expect the same result,” Peter Breen, executive vice president and head of litigation at Thomas More Society, said in a statement.

The Center Square reached out to the California Department of Education for a comment, but has not received a response.