Last month, Fairfax County Public Schools, represented by Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, extended a Rule 68 Offer of Judgment to a former student, identified as “Jane Doe,” over its bathrooms and pronouns policies. Virginia’s largest public school district granted the plaintiff $50 and attorney’s fees associated with the case.
Jane Doe, represented by America First Legal, filed the lawsuit asserting that the district violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments, Title IX, and the Virginia Constitution by prioritizing “gender identity” over biological sex and religious conscience. The plaintiff had encountered a boy in the girls’ bathroom while at school, which school policy permits. The district’s code of conduct stipulates bathroom and locker room use is based on “gender identity” rather than biological sex. It also mandates preferred pronoun usage.
In response to the district’s decision not to fight the case, Jane Doe’s mother told IW Features, “My sincere thanks goes to my daughter’s legal team at America First Legal, who were the only adults during this whole ordeal to listen to my pleas for help to keep my daughter safe while she was at school.”
She continued, “The FCPS Board capitulated after having seen the writing on the wall that their arguments weren’t going to yield favorable outcomes if they continued litigation in federal court.”
In his statement on the day of the judgment, Gene Hamilton, president of America First Legal, said, “Our client’s rights were violated, and today she has justice. This judgment is a crucial reminder that no one is above the law. Fairfax County attempted repeatedly to block this case, and they failed.”
Ian Prior, senior counsel at America First Legal, told IW Features, “No student should face the threat of punishment or be pushed aside for asserting their fundamental constitutional rights. We are grateful for this victory, and we will continue standing up for families and fighting to restore common sense and safety in schools.”
IW Features also reached out to Fairfax County Public Schools for comment. Unsurprisingly, the district painted a different picture. An emailed statement from a spokesperson in the Office of Communications reads, “FCPS Title IX policies continue to align with state and federal law … The settlement is not an admission of liability or wrongdoing by FCPS. We resolved this dispute for a nominal amount to safeguard public resources and save taxpayers thousands of dollars in legal fees and costs.”
These comments are comical for a few reasons. First among them, the district’s leaders have not shown prior interest in saving the taxpayers money on legal fees, or much else for that matter. IW Features previously reported that from Fiscal Year 2019 to 2025, the district spent about $44 million in legal fees. And in August and September 2025 alone, the district paid a single law firm, King & Spalding, $980,515.14.
In a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the district’s vendor contract with King & Spalding, IW Features learned that the district is paying these attorneys up to $1,850 per hour for their services. John Foster, Fairfax County Public Schools’ division counsel, signed contracts with this exorbitantly high-priced K Street law firm in both August and November this year. Ironically, November is the same month that the district, under Foster’s counsel, filed Rule 68 in Jane Doe’s case to “save money.”
The second reason Fairfax County Public Schools’ statement is ridiculous is that the district spokesperson claims its policies “align with state and federal law.” Cultish trans fervor aside, it doesn’t take a legal eagle to know that boys presenting as boys and not even claiming to be transgender are not legally permitted in girls’ bathrooms and locker rooms. The male student Jane Doe encountered in the locker room identified as gay, not transgender, according to the lawsuit.
Moreover, the district’s interpretation of Gavin Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board, which held that the Obama administration’s interpretation of Title IX extended to “gender identity” as well as biological sex, takes liberties not extended in case law.
And last but certainly not least, our legal system is not meant for large K-12 public school districts with a $4 billion annual budget to buy their way out of legal trouble for unjust policies at the taxpayers’ expense while simultaneously spewing disclaimers of innocence. In response to the district’s disclaimer, Prior told IW Features, “The moment a judgment hits the court’s docket, prior disclaimers become a dead letter.”
Fairfax County Public Schools is one of many K-12 public school districts across the nation engaging in legal gymnastics in order to violate students’ constitutional rights. As important cases take center stage at the local and national levels, however, dusk is falling on their antics.
