Updated, 4:35 p.m. Wednesday with additional comment from the Idaho Family Policy Center’s Legal Center. 

The Idaho Family Policy Center (IFPC) announced Monday that its legal team plans to sue the Boise School District for previously flouting a state law restricting transgender students’ access to their preferred bathrooms. 

But the state law in question — enacted through Senate Bill 1100 in 2023 — was under a federal court injunction earlier this year, when the tort claim alleges a transgender student used Boise High School bathrooms that didn’t align with their birth sex.

The tort claim — filed on behalf of a former Boise High School student and her family — centers on two incidents during the 2024-25 school year. In January and February, the former student alleges that she used a girls’ bathroom where a “biological male” was also using the facility.

“Boise High School gave explicit permission to this biological male student to use the girls’ restrooms, endangering the privacy and dignity of biological female students like the girl we represent,” Kevin Shupperd, senior litigating attorney at the IFPC Legal Center, said in a news release Monday. 

A tort claim is not a lawsuit, but it’s a precursor to suing a public agency. The claimant’s family is seeking $20,000 in damages.

The tort claim argues that the Boise School District and Boise High School — both named as defendants — “had a duty” to comply with SB 1100. The law prohibits public schools from allowing transgender students to use restrooms and locker rooms that don’t align with their birth sex. 

GOP lawmakers passed SB 1100, and Republican Gov. Brad Little signed it into law, in 2023. IFPC — a conservative lobbying group, whose mission is to advance “the lordship of Christ in the public square” — said in the news release Monday that it “championed” the bill. 

But neither the tort claim nor the news release mentioned that the law was on hold until March of this year. 

On Oct. 26, 2023, the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary injunction — also known as an emergency injunction — barring Idaho school districts from enforcing SB 1100 while the court considers a challenge. An Idaho transgender student and Boise High’s student-led Sexuality and Gender Alliance have asked federal courts to declare the law unconstitutional. The temporary injunction lasted until March 20, when the Ninth Circuit declared that the plaintiffs were unlikely to succeed in their constitutional claims.

“The tort claim alleges the District should have been following state law, but fails to acknowledge that it was barred from doing so by a Federal Court,” Boise School District spokesman Dan Hollar said Tuesday.

Through a spokesperson, IFPC Legal Center attorneys said Tuesday that the federal injunction “did not strip” their clients “of their rights under the statute.” When pressed to elaborate, attorneys said they were “not at liberty to discuss legal strategy” beyond what’s in the tort claim.

“If Boise School District declines to respond to the Notice of Tort Claim, the court documents will explain the legal theories as to why Boise School District and Boise High School are liable under the law, regardless of the emergency injunction,” the attorneys said in an emailed statement.

In a follow-up statement Wednesday, Shupperd said that the Ninth Circuit’s injunction was “narrowly tailored, merely staying enforcement of the law by the listed parties pending the outcome of the appeal.”  The defendants in the case are state superintendent Debbie Critchfield, the State Board of Education and the Boise School District.

“It’s also important to note that the Boise School District continued to have a duty of care to protect the privacy and safety of all students in school bathrooms — including the teenage girl we represent — even while the stay remained in effect,” Shupperd said by email. “The Ninth Circuit’s order simply does not relieve the school district from liability for breaching its duty of care under the law.”

Along with Shupperd, the tort claim lists Lili Pirc as an IFPC Legal Center attorney and Theo Wold — former solicitor general under Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador — as an “of counsel” affiliate. 

Per Idaho’s tort claim law, the Boise School District has 90 days to respond before a lawsuit can be filed.  

Student privacy laws prohibit the district from “disclosing details of what occurred,” Hollar said. He noted that a tort claim is an allegation and a legal notice that preserves the ability to bring a lawsuit at a later date. “It does not establish liability, nor the facts of what occurred.”

“Specific to the students, we can affirm that our district is committed to the well-being of every student and to upholding the trust that families place in us,” Hollar said. “We want to reassure our community that the Boise School District takes seriously its responsibility to provide a safe and supportive environment for all students, and (follow) the law.”