TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - The 11th Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals has issued an opinion in the case of Littlejohns Vs. Leon County School Board.

The Littlejohns claimed the district and their child’s school violated their constitutional rights as parents when they allowed their child to “socially transition” to new pronouns and a new name at school without their knowledge or permission.

In the nearly 170-page opinion issued Wednesday, the majority of justices sided with the school board and granted its motion to dismiss the case. The ruling affirmed a lower court’s decision.

The case has garnered national attention as First Lady Melania Trump invited January Littlejohn to attend the President’s recent address to Congress. President Donald Trump recognized her during his speech.

“Teachers and administrators conspired to deceive January and her husband while encouraging her daughter to use a new name and pronouns. They/them pronoun, actually or without telling January, who is here tonight and is now a courageous advocate against this form of child abuse. January, thank you,” President Trump said during his address.

The appeals court decision released this week says the case hinged on whether the school district’s actions “shocked the conscious.” The opinion says, “They did not.”

Case Background

Court documents indicate that the Leon County School District and staff members at Deer Lake Middle School allowed the Littlejohns’ 13-year-old child - who was assigned female at birth - to start using the pronouns they/them and go by the name of “J” while at school.

The parents, January and Jeffery Littlejohn, told her teacher they did not want their child to use different pronouns, but did allow them to use the nickname J at school as requested by the child, according to court documents.

Before the lawsuit, the school board sanctioned the LGBTQ+ Equity Committee. Their job was to develop an LGBTQ+ support guide for the district’s schools, students, and parents to help them “navigate existing laws, regulations, and policies that support LGBTQ+ [Leon County School] students.”

The guide contained a question and answer section which covered parental-notification procedures. This edition of the guide stated staff should not “notify parents if a student’s behavior led staff to believe the student was LGBTQ+.”

The court document laid out the question and answer section as follows:

Because of this guide, staff met with the child who explicitly expressed to the school’s guidance counselor that she wanted to “socially transition at school” to using they/them pronouns and formally using the name J, according to the court opinion.

A “Student Support Plan” was created with the school staff, but did not include the child’s parents per their request. Because of this, the school did not notify the parents and went ahead with the meeting.

Documents outline that when the Littlejohns learned of this plan, they contacted school and district administrators to discuss their displeasure in the meeting and plan.

Rachel Thomas, Title IX Compliance Coordinator for Leon County Schools, and Assistant Principal Robin Oliveri later reached back out to January Littlejohns to explain that “by law” the district was not required to alert them to the meeting and were only to invite them if the child requested it.

According to documents, the parents repeatedly called and emailed the now Former Assistant Superintendent for Equity Officer, Dr. Kathleen Rodgers, about the response stated above. Rodgers replied back via email with the following statement, “We currently do not have any Florida specific law that obligates us to inform the parents or says we cannot listen to the student without their parent present.”

After the email, the Littlejohns sued the school board, Rocky Hanna, Dr. Rodgers, Rachel Thomas, and Robin Oliveri for violating their “substantive-due-process and privacy rights under both federal and state law.”

The lawsuit was eventually dismissed by a district court (opinion below).

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