The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit challenging South Carolina’s “disturbing schools” and “disorderly conduct” laws. The laws allowed students in school to be criminally charged for normal adolescent behaviors including loitering, cursing, or undefined “obnoxious” actions on school grounds and encouraged discriminatory enforcement against Black students and students with disabilities. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court ruling that enforcing these laws against students was unconstitutional, affirming that subjecting students to criminal penalties under such vague rules interferes with their education and their future, and produces stark racial disparities. This decision should be instructive to the many school districts across the country where students continue to be charged with ‘disorderly conduct’ and similar vague crimes.

This case involves a public charter school in North Carolina that requires girls to wear skirts to receive their state-guaranteed and state-provided education, based on the belief that every girl is “a fragile vessel” and that girls wearing skirts would promote “chivalry.”

On May 14, 2020, the ACLU Women’s Rights Project and Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP filed a lawsuit in the District Court of Maryland on behalf of plaintiffs Know Your IX, the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, Girls for Gender Equity, and Stop Sexual Assault in Schools, challenging several provisions of the U.S. Department of Education’s newly issued Title IX rule under the Administrative Procedure Act.