New Jersey Superior Court Judge David Bauman fielded arguments from the parties on Tuesday in a pitched battle over the Murphy Administration’s lawsuit targeting three Monmouth County school districts. The Administration says those districts’ parental notification policies – which instruct school officials to notify parents if, for example, a child wants to use a bathroom inconsistent with their gender – violate state law. The Murphy Administration has threatened the offending districts (including Middletown, where the governor himself resides) with penalties including state takeover and a loss of school aid.
The districts, for their part, asked the court judge lift an injunction staying the school boards’ policies as the fall semester rapidly approaches. One exchange during oral argument in particular gave the defendants some hope of a positive outcome.
The Patch‘s Carly Baldwin was on site and has done a solid job of staying on top of the story.
“What if a [transgender] student is five years old?” Judge Bauman inquired of the attending deputy attorney generals who represent the state. “I think we can all agree there is a constitutional right for parents to oversee the upbringing of their children. What do you think?”
“That issue will not come up as much with a 5-year-old,” one DAG reportedly responded. “But we believe, even then, that policy violates the law.”
The judge also posed a hypothetical to the defendant school districts represented in court, Middletown and Marlboro: “Maybe a trans student feels school is a safe haven for them… a safe harbor. What do you say to that?”
“I would say to that: we don’t believe in keeping secrets from parents,” responded Marlboro Attorney Marc Zitomer.
When the dust settled, the court advised that it plans to rule on the injunction “shortly,” but the lawsuit-in-chief could takes months or longer to resolve since neither side seems prepared to throw in the towel pertaining to this politically combustible issue.
Meanwhile, the in-person hearing attracted a number of protesters outside of the Freehold court building as well as politicians including 2021 Republican gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli and LD13 GOP Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger.
“It was heartening to see so many concerned citizens come out to the Monmouth County Courthouse to support the three brave boards of education who are being sued by the State of New Jersey for standing up for the rights of parents,” the Assemblyman tweeted. “The State has no right to interfere in the lives of families and should not be dictating how parents parent. Once again, this shows how important voting is, especially this year!”
