⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The Fifth Circuit considers a Texas school district's rule limiting boys', but not girls', hair length. Darryl George wore locs tied up but longer than the rule allowed when let down. He says the sex-specific rule violates equal protection and the Texas CROWN Act, which protects hair texture and race-associated styles such as locs. The district court granted Barbers Hill summary judgment after applying intermediate scrutiny. The appeal asks whether Karr versus Schmidt, a nineteen seventy-two Fifth Circuit school-hair case applying rational-basis review, still controls, or whether later Supreme Court cases require intermediate scrutiny. That standard requires an important objective and a substantial connection to the rule. George says the evidence is weak. The district says the rule reflects community expectations, promotes discipline, and prepares students for workplaces with sex-specific grooming rules.

George v. Barbers Hill Independent School District (No. 25-40544) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, argued June 3, 2026.