(Washington, D.C.)—The Liberty Justice Center, alongside the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty and the California Justice Center, has filed an amicus brief on behalf of Dr. Erica E. Anderson in Littlejohn v. School Board of Leon County. The case involves Florida parents January and Jeffrey Littlejohn, who allege that their local school concealed from them critical conversations with their child about gender identity and proceeded to socially transition the child with a new name and pronouns without notifying or involving the parents.
Dr. Erica E. Anderson, PhD, is a transgender clinical psychologist with more than 45 years of experience counseling children and adolescents on gender-identity-related issues. Drawing on her decades of practice, Dr. Anderson emphasizes that proper care for children experiencing gender incongruence ultimately requires the involvement of their parents. The filing argues that excluding or deceiving parents in this decision violates longstanding Supreme Court precedent protecting parents’ right to direct their children’s upbringing, most recently reaffirmed in the Court’s 2025 Mahmoud v. Taylor decision. The brief further explains that the deliberate deception of parents crosses a constitutional line that “shocks the conscience.”
“These secrecy policies unlawfully strip parents of their fundamental right to guide their children’s upbringing and health decisions,” said Dean McGee, Senior Counsel and Director of Educational Freedom at the Liberty Justice Center. “With courts nationwide divided on this critical issue, the Supreme Court must step in to provide clarity and reaffirm parents’ fundamental rights.”
The Liberty Justice Center has been a leading advocate for transparency and parental rights in education and is currently challenging California’s AB1955—a law that prohibits school districts from adopting transparency policies that ensure parents are informed about major decisions concerning their children—in Chino Valley v. Newsom, currently pending before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Liberty Justice Center’s amicus brief in Littlejohn v. School Board of Leon County is available here.