On June 30, 2020, a Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP team, which includes partners Esra Hudson and Joanna McCallum as well as associates Misa Eiritz, Alison Bitterly and Jessica Vidal, filed an amicus brief on behalf of the California Women’s Law Center, an organization that protects, secures, and advances the comprehensive civil rights of women and girls, with a particular emphasis on low-income women and girls. The case was brought in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia by 18 state attorneys general against the Department of Education. The lawsuit challenges the Department’s May 6, 2020 Final Rule, which removes important protections for survivors who experience sexual harassment or assault at school, and sharply reduces schools’ responsibility to investigate and respond to sexual violence. The lawsuit attempts to block the Final Rule from going into effect on August 14, 2020, as scheduled.

This brief was filed in Commonwealth of Pennsylvania et al. v. Elisabeth D. Devos et al.

To read the full amicus brief, please click here.