The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel and Vice President of Appellate Advocacy John Bursch regarding a friend-of-the-court brief ADF attorneys filed Friday with the U.S. Supreme Court in Warner v. Hillsborough County School Board. There, a father seeks to represent his minor son in a legal challenge against a Florida school district that he alleges engaged in racial discrimination when drawing school district lines. The lower court refused to let the father bring his son’s claims without hiring an attorney. Supporting the father’s effort to protect his son’s rights, ADF attorneys filed the brief on behalf of three parents who challenged the imposition of gender ideology on their children by their schools:
“Parents know and love their children best. Recognizing that, American courts have long protected their right to speak on their children’s behalf in court. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit held that parents’ right to speak for their children in court depends on their ability to hire an attorney—whether or not a parent can pay or find an attorney willing to take the case for free. This jeopardizes parents’ ability to protect their children’s best interests, like our clients Tammy Fournier, Gretchen Melton, and Carmilla Tatel were able to do when they sought to protect their children from radical gender identity ideology. We urge the U.S. Supreme Court to grant review of this case to ensure that the parent-child relationship receives the legal protection it deserves.”
ADF attorneys successfully represented Fournier in T.F. and B.F. v. Kettle Moraine School District after the school district refused her express desire for the district to treat her daughter as a girl. An ADF allied attorney successfully represented Melton and Tatel in Tatel v. Mt. Lebanon School District, a legal challenge to the school district’s refusal to exempt children from gender identity lessons.
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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