(NEW YORK) — Delaware State University announced plans to file a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice over what its president called a “constitutionally dubious” drug search of a bus transporting its women’s lacrosse team through Georgia last month.

The historically Black university intends to file the complaint next week, alleging “misconduct” by the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office, the school’s president, Tony Allen, said during a press briefing Friday.

Allen did not go into detail on the contents of the complaint ahead of the filing, but said that “from our standpoint, the evidence is clear and compelling.”

“What we believe is that the search was conducted inappropriately, and there was implicit racial bias in the search,” he said, noting that the lacrosse team is 70% African American.

The university is seeking “justice” for the student-athletes, who may choose to pursue legal action on their own, Allen said.

Liberty County deputies pulled the bus over for an alleged traffic violation that then turned into a drug search. Nothing illegal was found, authorities and school officials said.

The incident, which occurred on April 20, came to light after one of the team’s lacrosse players wrote about the search in the school’s newspaper last week with the headline, “Delaware State Women’s Lacrosse Team Felt Racially Profiled by Police in Georgia.” The player also released a video of part of the deputies’ interactions with the team.

The team’s head coach, Pamella Jenkins, also charged that it was an incident of racial profiling in interview with ABC Philadelphia station WPVI.

In response to the allegations, Liberty County Sheriff William Bowman said this week that there was probable cause for the luggage search due to an alert from a K9.

“Although I do not believe any racial profiling took place based on the information I currently have, I welcome feedback from our community on ways that our law enforcement practices can be improved while still maintaining the law,” he said.

The sheriff’s office also released body-camera footage of the incident, during which a deputy can be heard telling the student-athletes to come forward with anything “questionable.”

“Marijuana is still illegal in the state of Georgia,” he said.

Prior to conducting the search, the deputy can be heard while in his cruiser saying, “There’s a bunch of dang school girls on the bus. There’s probably some weed. Maybe.”

The university contacted Delaware Attorney General Kathleen Jennings about the incident, who this week wrote to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division “urging a full examination,” she said.

In her letter, Jennings said she was “deeply troubled” by what happened.

“By all accounts these young women represented their school and our state with class — and they were rewarded with a questionable-at-best search through their belongings in an effort to find contraband that did not exist,” she wrote. “Not only did the deputies find nothing illegal in the bags; they did not issue a single ticket for the alleged traffic infraction.”

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(DALLAS) — Haley Taylor Schlitz made headlines in 2019 after getting accepted into nine law schools. She was just 16 at the time.

Now, after three years of classes, long nights, clerkships and internships – and a pandemic to boot – Taylor Schlitz is ready to step into her next chapter.

The 19-year-old from Keller, Texas, graduates from Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law on Friday and will become the Dallas law school’s youngest Black student to do so, the school confirmed to “Good Morning America.”

“We are incredibly proud of Haley and all she has accomplished during her time at SMU Law School. We know she is going to make a difference in this world, and we can’t wait to see all the wonderful places her career will take her,” SMU Dedman School of Law Professor Jennifer Collins told “GMA” in an emailed statement.

Schlitz told “GMA” it feels surreal to finally be graduating but is ready for her big day.

“It’s just been a lot of buildup and it’s really exciting to take off,” the student said.

She’ll be celebrating this weekend with her family, including her mother, father and siblings before she gets cracking on her bar exam studies next Monday. “My village is a huge part of my motivation to keep going,” Schlitz said.

“My mom has been probably my absolute biggest motivator, my biggest supporter, the person that I look up to the most,” she continued. “She’s an ER doctor and so for the longest time, I wanted to be an ER doctor, but even after wanting to be an attorney, and now going to law school, she’s still somebody that is such a huge life counselor, such a great advisor for me.”

When she stopped by the “GMA” studio three years ago, Schlitz said she wanted to “help other students and fight for equity” and with law school wrapped up, she wants to do just that.

“I absolutely feel that even more strongly now,” Schlitz said. “It’s so much more tangible. I’m so close to actually being able to make that impact that I’ve been talking about … write that legislation, really get active.”

Schlitz, who cited criminal law and torts law as her two favorite law school courses, hopes to work in educational policy or teach. “I have quite a few job offers and right now, it just depends on where I want to be in the country,” she said.

For others searching for their own success, Schlitz said she had one key message for them.

“You don’t find your path. You make it,” she said. “Take life by the reins, by the horns, and just really make what you want your reality.”

She also encouraged people to take advantage of opportunities and not to be afraid to take chances.

“It’s OK to make mistakes,” Schlitz said.

She went on, “Just go back to your foundation and build up again and don’t be confined to boxes or stereotypes or when other people are trying to say whether it’s no or yes. It’s really up to you.”

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(AUSTIN, Texas) — The Texas Supreme Court reversed the statewide halt on investigations into parents who provide gender-affirming care to their transgender children on Friday.

However, the court also stated that the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services is not legally obligated to investigate such care as child abuse based on the directives from Gov. Greg Abbott and state Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The court did not rule whether such investigations violate the families’ rights or not — that is still up to lower courts.

In a Feb. 22 letter, Abbott called gender-transitioning or affirming procedures “child abuse,” following an opinion from Paxton that said the same.

Paxton attacked gender-affirming care for LGBTQ youth, saying that his opinion “comes at a critical time” when “Texans are seeing the horrors that flow from the merging of medicine and misguided ideology.”

State District Judge Amy Clark Meachum issued a temporary injunction on the directive in March after hearing from the parents of a 16-year-old transgender girl who were under investigation by DFPS. Meachum also heard from attorneys from the state.

The Texas Court of Appeals later that month affirmed the injunction.

The state Supreme Court said that neither the governor’s letter nor the attorney general’s opinion changed the legal obligations of the DFPS and have no authority over the state agency. Gov. Abbott was dismissed from the case, because the court states he has no authority over such investigations.

In February, the DFPS announced that it would comply with Paxton and Abbott’s directive. It was investigating at least nine families under Paxton’s directive, an agency spokesperson told ABC News.

“In sum, we are directed to no source of law obligating DFPS to base its investigatory decisions on the Governor’s letter or the Attorney General’s Opinion,” the opinion from the Texas Supreme Court states.

The court also will uphold the decision to block an investigation into a family that is suing the DFPS and Governor Greg Abbott over the directive.

According to an ACLU complaint against the state, “some doctors and other providers have discontinued prescribing medically necessary treatment for gender dysphoria to transgender youth” as a result of Abbott’s directive.

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