JUSTICE OR JUST PRESS? Did NY AG Letitia James Weaponize Law for Attention in Lawsuit Against Niagara Wheatfield School?

Brian Ginsberg, a former assistant solicitor general for New York, filed a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court on May 12, accusing his former boss, Attorney General Letitia James, of abusing her prosecutorial powers in a Title IX case.

Ginsberg claims that James twisted the legal doctrine of parens patriae to shoehorn herself into a case involving teenagers against a western New York school district.

After leaving the New York Attorney General’s Office in 2022, Ginsberg entered private practice and represents the Niagara Wheatfield Central School District in the case brought by James.

James alleges that the district failed to protect students from sexual assault and bullying and seeks to compel the district to “stop its unlawful practices.”

James, citing four incidents of sexual assault and peer harassment, called it a pattern, claiming the whole state is harmed.

GINSBERG TO COURT: “FOUR CASES ≠ A CRISIS”

Brian D. Ginsberg

Ginsberg’s position? Four cases don’t equal a statewide crisis.

In 2022, a federal district court dismissed James’s lawsuit against the Niagara Wheatfield Central School District, ruling that her office lacked standing. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision in 2024, permitting James’ case to proceed.

In his May 12 petition, Ginsberg urged the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene, arguing that the appellate court erred by allowing Attorney General James to pursue litigation “on the basis of unrelated incidents involving individual students,” thereby misapplying the “extraordinary mechanism of parens patriae litigation.”

WHAT IS PARENS PATRIAE? 

Parens patriae, Latin for “parent of the nation,” permits a government—typically a state—to intervene in legal matters on behalf of individuals who cannot protect themselves. In practice, it allows attorneys general to initiate lawsuits when they claim the public interest is at stake. The doctrine is supposed to be invoked only in cases of widespread harm affecting the general population.

FOUR NAMED, THIRTY CLAIMED, ZERO DETAILS

The Niagara Wheatfield Central School District serves approximately 3,400 students across six schools.

In 2018, a high school junior, identified as T.G., alleged she was raped by a classmate, E.D., at his home. T.G.’s mother posted about it on social media, criticizing the district’s handling of the matter. New York Attorney General James initiated an investigation, identifying three more students—among the district’s 3,400—whom she alleged were subjected to sexual abuse, harassment, or bullying between 2017 and 2021.

Niagara Wheaton High School

What began as one story became James’ mission: find more. She did. Three students. Not 300. Not 30. James found three cases across four years. And so, a district became a defendant.

In 2021, James filed suit against the Niagara Wheatfield Central School District in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York. The complaint alleged that the district violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and was liable under New York common law for negligent supervision.

The Attorney General cited the four student cases—T.G., C.C., A.S., and L.W.—as primary examples. She also claimed the district failed to adequately address “at least thirty incidents” of sexual misconduct or gender-based bullying, though she provided no specific details. No names. No dates. She said thirty others had been hurt, but didn’t say who, when, or how.

Four cases with faces. Thirty with none. She said the district had failed.

FIGHTING THE STATE, NOT THE PLAINTIFF

There is nothing abstract about power when it arrives in the courtroom wearing the seal of the State. When the State jumps into lawsuits with its parens patriae cape on, defendants aren’t just fighting plaintiffs anymore—they’re staring down a government.

Suddenly, you’re not fighting the person who’s mad—you’re fighting an entire office with seal-stamped subpoenas and government lawyers.

Ginsberg’s argument against his former boss is that if you let elected attorneys general water down parens patriae, they’ll rush into every newsworthy conflict waving the banner of the people—while trampling due process. Defendants are ambushed. Real victims get silenced. The State, meanwhile, takes the wheel and never asks for permission. It’s not justice. It’s campaign season via the courtroom.

WAS IT EVER ABOUT THE KIDS?

Maybe James meant well. Maybe she didn’t. Maybe they’ll rein her in. Maybe they won’t. But in western New York, there’s a school district that wants to teach kids, not spend taxpayer money fighting the State.

It is not justice that moved her—it was something far older and less noble. Letitia James saw a story: a school, a child, a haunting allegation. She went out searching for more. But this wasn’t about healing wounds. This wasn’t about the kids. It wasn’t about the school. It was about Letitia James. A press release. A lawsuit with her name on it. She wanted headlines. Not justice.

James sues a school district for four incidents—which collectively are not a statewide emergency.

Why did she do it? Letitia James wanted to look like a hero. She found four stories, and called it a cause. But the cause was always the same: herself.

This was about inflating a handful of isolated incidents into a fake statewide crisis. No real epidemic. No real pattern.

THE TRUE THREAT TO THE STATE

A quiet district. A loud lawsuit. Letitia James standing at a microphone and playing protector on TV. The doctrine of parens patriae is needed here—not to protect the people.

It’s James herself who must be stopped. Because James is the threat to the state, dressed in the rhetoric of virtue. The politician who weaponizes law. The rescuer who starts setting fires—the one warping the law for her own gain.