Supreme Court Considers Statutory Remedy for Sex Harassment in Schools
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments yesterday on whether Title IX is the only basis for a lawsuit filed by parents who say their 5-year-old daughter was sexually harassed on the school bus.
Lisa and Robert Fitzgerald contend they should also be able to sue under Section 1983, the broader civil rights law. Several justices appeared to accept that argument, but they questioned whether it would make a difference in the case, the New York Times reports.
A federal appeals court had ruled the Fitzgeralds could sue only under Title IX, and they must lose under the statute because they could not prove the school district acted with deliberate indifference to their daughter’s harassment.
The Fitzgeralds had claimed an 8-year-old boy on the bus would force their daughter to lift her dress and pull down her underwear. Rather than taking action against the boy, the school offered to put the girl on a different bus. Police declined to pursue charges, USA Today reports.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg questioned whether a suit under Section 1983 would fare any better. “In the civil rights area, there are a lot of overlapping statutes,” Ginsburg said. “Yes, you have two claims. But if you lose under IX, you are going to lose under 1983 as well.”
The Fitzgeralds’ daughter is now 13 years old, the Cape Cod Times reports. “I feel kind of proud of myself for being able to go this far,” she told the newspaper. “I really just want never for this to happen to anyone else.”
The case is Fitzgerald v. Barnstable School Committee.
