In a Title IX case that is garnering national attention, Peter Murphy and Linda Yoder from Shipman's School Law Practice Group successfully defended the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) in a challenge to the CIAC's policy that allows transgender students to participate in high school sports consistent with their expressed gender identity. The case was brought by Alliance Defending Freedom on behalf of four cisgender female athletes who claimed the CIAC's policy deprived them of wins, state titles, and athletic scholarship opportunities. The plaintiffs all graduated high school after the case was filed, but they continued to pursue their claims, seeking a change to the CIAC policy and damages. Recently the Shipman team successfully convinced the Second Circuit Court of Appeals that the CIAC's policy did not deprive the plaintiffs of an opportunity to compete for or win state championships, that the plaintiffs lacked standing to have their high school records rewritten, and that the plaintiffs' claim for money damages were barred. The Second Circuit's entire decision, which dismissed all of the plaintiffs' claims, can be read here.
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