America First Legal filed a brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit as the legal group works to hold Pennsylvania’s Pine-Richland School District accountable for providing secret, taxpayer-funded gender transition teams” to students. The program is provided to students without parental consent or permission and, according to AFL, constitutes a direct violation of President Trump’s recent executive order that barred K-12 schools from promoting radical ideologies on gender and race, among other things.

According to the Pine-Richland School District’s policies, schools are required to address students by their “preferred pronouns,” and are also required to use his or her “preferred name, gender, and pronouns” on “school records or documents, such as school IDs, classroom rosters or the year-book.”

Students are also required to be allowed to use whichever bathroom they choose, even if they choose the one that does not correspond to their biological gender. In addition, students have the opportunity to participate in sports corresponding with their “preferred” gender.

In addition, the district empowers “gender transition teams” of school officials, nurses, psychologists, and principals to develop strategies to help minors with the process of “transitioning” to match their “gender identity,” AFL explained in a press release. The school district firmly believes that notifying parents about a student’s “transition” efforts “may not be necessary.”

AFL’s client informed the district that without her written consent, it could not refer her child to any mental health counselor or social worker for evaluation. She further told district administrators to notify her of any matters related to the “gender identity” or “gender dysphoria” of her child. The Pine-Richland School District refused to honor the request, however, stating that under no circumstances would the school district notify her if her child requested “gender transitioning resources.”

The client ultimately opted to pull her child from the district over fears that administrators would facilitate irreparable harm and gender dysphoria.

America First Legal founder Stephen Miller speaks at a Trump rally in Phoenix, Arizona in 2016
Photo: Gage Skidmore

On January 12, 2024, AFL sued the Pine-Richland School District, arguing that its policies violated its client’s constitutional rights. On February 5, 2024, AFL filed a preliminary injunction in its lawsuit to stop the school district from violating its clients constitutional rights. The complaint was later dismissed by a district court, however, which argued that AFL’s client had not been injured and lacked standing.

On appeal, the legal group is arguing that the district court erred and that its client has standing to defend her due process rights.

“A court telling a mother she is not injured when a governmental agency has an explicit policy that it will socially transition your child to the opposite sex — without notifying that mom — seems to miss the mark. Parents have a right to parent their children. Parents don’t lose their parental rights at the schoolhouse steps,” America First Legal Senior Counsel Nick Barry said in a statement.

“A state entity providing a type of medical care to your child behind your back would clearly violate your parental rights. A parent shouldn’t have to suffer that devastating outcome and violation of their constitutional rights before they can challenge a policy that requires it,” he added.

The latest filing comes on the heels of an executive order titled “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” which was signed by President Trump on January 29. Trump’s order declares that federal money cannot be used on the indoctrination of children, including “radical gender ideology and critical race theory.” It says civil rights laws barring discrimination based on sex and race would be used to enforce the order, calling critical race theory an “inherently racist policy.”

RELATED: Trump DOJ Drops Case Against Texas Doctor Who Exposed Transgender Procedures For Minors