US Supreme Court Dismissed Case Against School That Made Girls Wear Skirts

Today, the US Supreme Court declined to accept an appeal from a North Carolina public charter school that had its prohibited requirement that females wear skirts rejected. The school’s founder said that the policy was intended to treat women like “fragile vessels.”

The US Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Charter Day School Inc., upholding a lower court’s finding that the clothing code discriminates against pupils based on gender and violates the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection under the law.

In North Carolina, public charter schools are tuition-free, welcoming to all students, and supported by the state financially on an individual basis. Instead of a public school system, they are managed by private, non-profit organizations.

The case concerned whether Charter Day School in the town of Leland, South-Eastern North Carolina, which provides a “traditional-values-based education” to pupils from Kindergarten to Grade 8, was subject to the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution when it implemented the ban on wearing of skirts.

The school claimed that the uniform requirement was created to promote classroom order and “mutual respect between boys and girls.”

According to court documents, Baker Mitchell, the school’s founder, told parents that the policy was intended to uphold chivalry and that women should be “regarded as a fragile vessel that men are supposed to take care of and honor.” Boys may don shorts or pants.

Three kids and their parents or guardians filed a lawsuit against the school on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union, claiming that the skirt requirement is unconstitutional and violates the 14th Amendment because it is based on gender stereotypes.

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The plaintiffs filed their lawsuit under a federal statute known as Section 1983, which enables people to sue state officials for alleged violations of their legal or constitutional rights. The school argued that because it is not a state actor and cannot be sued under Section 1983, it should be exempt from the case.

In 2022, the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia declared that charter schools in North Carolina are state actors as they receive public funding, their staff members are regarded as public school workers, and the state has given them responsibility for student instruction. After that, the Charter Day School dress regulation was ruled unlawful by the 4th Circuit.

The 4th Circuit decision noted that the rule on wearing of skirts creates “stereotypes with potentially devastating consequences for young girls” and sends the message to kids that female students are weak and should be treated differently than male students.

The school claimed in its appeal that the Fourth Circuit’s decision damages charter schools by treating “private operators as the constitutional equivalent of government-run schools, squelching innovation and restricting parental choice.”

President Joe Biden’s administration submitted a brief urging the court to reject the school’s appeal after being asked by the Supreme Court to weigh in on whether or not to consider the case.