Idaho defends law that protects student privacy in restrooms, locker rooms, overnight stays, and showers

WHO: Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys

WHAT: Available for media interviews following oral arguments in Roe v. Critchfield

WHEN: Immediately following hearing, which begins at 9:30 a.m. PDT, Thursday, May 9

WHERE: U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, Richard H. Chambers Courthouse, 125 S. Grand Ave., Pasadena. To schedule an interview, contact ADF Media Relations Specialist Hattie Troutman at (771) 200-7630.

PASADENA, Calif. – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys will be available for media interviews following oral arguments Thursday at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in Roe v. Critchfield. Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador, assisted by attorneys from Alliance Defending Freedom, filed a brief in December urging the court to uphold a district court decision that allowed Idaho to protect the privacy, safety, and dignity of all K-12 students in public school’s locker rooms, showers, restrooms, and overnight stays.

Last March, Idaho enacted a law protecting children’s privacy by ensuring that sex-specific facilities in K-12 public schools like showers, locker rooms, restrooms, and overnight accommodations remained sex-specific, while also allowing single-user facilities. But activists sued Idaho State Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield and the state board of education in July demanding that K-12 public schools force girls to share private spaces with males and vice-versa. After a lower court upheld Idaho’s common-sense law, the activists appealed, and the 9th Circuit granted them an injunction pending appeal, halting enforcement of the law.

“Idaho’s law protects every student’s dignity and worth by respecting their privacy and safety in locker rooms, showers, restrooms, and overnight stays,” said ADF Senior Counsel Erin Hawley, vice president of the ADF Center for Life and Regulatory Practice, who will argue virtually before the court. “Girls and boys each deserve a private space to shower, undress, use the restroom, and sleep, and they shouldn’t have to worry about sharing these spaces with a member of the opposite sex. Girls and boys are biologically different, and we are urging the court to uphold Idaho’s law that recognizes this truth and accommodates each unique student.”

In January, 24 states and multiple advocacy groups united to support Idaho’s law through several friend-of-the-court briefs.

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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