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California faced yet another lawsuit over sex-hiding policies in schools when a federal judge this week ordered the state to pay plaintiffs in the lawsuit $4.5 million in taxpayer-funded legal fees.
Judge Roger Benitez, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, chided federal lawyers in his order for what he said was an “extraordinary” court decision that forced the parents and teachers who brought the suit to respond to “California’s disobedience.”
The lawsuit challenged the California SAFETY Act, which prevented schools from requiring staff to notify parents if a student wanted to change their gender identity or pronouns. The Supreme Court overturned the policy in March and authorities with similar policies have faced legal threats to overturn it.
Benitez also faced additional financial penalties, in addition to the reimbursement of legal fees, to reach the amount of $ 4.5 million because the case concerns “a very important topic,” he said.
NJ SCHOOL DISTRICT SECRETARY TRANSLESS POLICY FACED LEGAL CHALLENGE FOR SUPREME COURT.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta (Reuters/Fred Greaves/File Photo)
“The state’s public education policies suppress families’ right to free exercise of religion under the First Amendment. The policies also deny and abrogate the constitutional rights of California parents to direct the health and well-being of their schoolchildren,” Benitez wrote. “Such concerns enter among the most important areas of family life in American history and culture.”
The lawsuit, filed by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, said the state imposed an unconstitutional policy on schools that prevented teachers and staff from telling parents if their child wants to change gender.
CALIFORNIA SCHOOL DISTRICT ALLOWS STUDENTS TO CHANGE NAMES AND CONFIDENTIAL NAMES FROM PARENTS.
Protesters gather outside the Supreme Court as it hears arguments on state laws barring transgender girls and women from playing on school track teams, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, Washington. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)
The Supreme Court sided with parents in the emergency order 6-3, saying California’s policy, which banned what critics described as the “forced exit” of students from schools, may be unconstitutional.
The Thomas More Society, a conservative legal group, is representing the plaintiffs in the case and recently warned a New Jersey school district that it will take legal action if the school district does not remove the same policy for transgender students.
Supreme Court in Washington, DC, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (Pete Kiehart/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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“This is just the beginning,” Peter Breen, executive vice president of the Thomas More Society, told Fox News Digital of its warning to the Westwood County School Board. “This is not the end, but the beginning, our biggest victory at the Supreme Court. We are already filing petitions from other parents across the country, and we expect to send more letters of demand, unfortunately.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Bonta’s office for comment.
