Case file
Community Members for Religious Neutrality in Public Schools — San Francisco Bay Area v. Kline
Federal Establishment Clause suit over a Palo Alto High School Social Justice Pathway field trip to a Santa Clara mosque. Docket and filings, updated as documents become available.
Case information
- Case number
- 5:26-cv-08249
- Court
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Jose)
- Assigned to
- Magistrate Judge Virginia K. DeMarchi
- Date filed
- August 7, 2026
- Nature of suit
- Other Civil Rights (440)
- Cause
- 28 U.S.C. § 1331 — Federal Question: Other Civil Rights
- Status
- Open — initial case management conference set for November 10, 2026
Parties
Plaintiffs
- Community Members for Religious Neutrality in Public Schools — San Francisco Bay Area
- Jafi Lipson
- Josh Lehrer
- Sasha Ava Lehrer
- Pawan Deshpande
- Dinsha Mistree
- Linor Levav
Defendants
- Brent Kline
- Palo Alto Unified School District
Counsel for plaintiffs
- David Michael Rosenberg-Wohl — Hershenson Rosenberg-Wohl, San Francisco
Docket
Filings are posted here as they become available. Docket current through August 20, 2026.
| # | Date | Proceeding |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | August 7, 2026 | COMPLAINT against Brent Kline and Palo Alto Unified School District (filing fee $405). Filed by all plaintiffs, including four pseudonymous plaintiffs. (Attachment: Civil Cover Sheet.) |
| 2 | August 7, 2026 | Proposed Summons, including a summons for Palo Alto Unified School District. |
| — | August 10, 2026 | Electronic filing error noticed by the clerk: a motion and proposed order to proceed by pseudonym must be filed before the case is assigned, and no summons will issue until that motion is granted. |
| 3 | August 10, 2026 | AMENDED COMPLAINT against Brent Kline and Palo Alto Unified School District. The four pseudonymous plaintiffs (AB, BC, CD, DE) were terminated from the case. (Attachments: Summons for PAUSD and for Kline.) |
| 4 | August 11, 2026 | Case assigned to Magistrate Judge Virginia K. DeMarchi. Consent or declination to magistrate jurisdiction due by August 25, 2026. |
| 5 | August 11, 2026 | Summons issued as to Brent Kline and Palo Alto Unified School District. |
| 6 | August 11, 2026 | Initial Case Management Scheduling Order with ADR deadlines. Case Management Statement due November 3, 2026; initial case management conference set for November 10, 2026 at 1:30 p.m. (San Jose, videoconference only). |
Docket text is summarized from the public court record. Allegations in filings are not findings, and no court has determined whether any of them are true.
