Published June 16, 2025
On June 16, 2025, Ethics and Public Policy Center fellow Eric Kniffin filed an amicus brief in Heaps v. Delaware Valley Regional High School Board of Education. This Third Circuit case was brought by Christian Heaps of New Jersey, whose 14-year-old daughter — already diagnosed with depression, anxiety, ADHD, and autism — was treated as a boy and encouraged to socially transition by her school district and related officials without Mr. Heaps’ consultation or parental consent.
As Kniffin summarized:
Caselaw, New Jersey law, and testimony from Our Duty’s members all affirm the same truths that should be common sense: Excluding abusive behavior, parents have the fundamental right to raise their children in the manner that they see fit…[T]his Court should reverse the decision below and affirm parents’ fundamental rights to raise and protect their children.
A full version of the brief can be found here.
Eric Kniffin is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he works on a range of initiatives to protect and strengthen religious liberty as part of EPPC’s Administrative State Accountability Project.
