In the case of Aurelia Davis, as next friend of LaShonda D. v. Monroe County Board of Education et al., 1998, the U.S Supreme Court was asked to determine whether a school board could be held liable under Title IX for student-on-student sexual harassment when it had been informed about the harassment but failed to take action. The plaintiff argued that her daughter suffered repeated sexual abuse by another student and despite reporting this to teachers and administrators multiple times, no effective action was taken by the school board. In a landmark decision in favor of Davis, the court ruled that schools can indeed be held accountable for failing to respond appropriately to complaints about ongoing student-on-student harassment or abuse if they exhibit "deliberate indifference" towards such incidents.

In the dissenting opinion for Aurelia Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education, Justice Kennedy argued that while sexual harassment in schools is a grave concern, it should not be addressed through Title IX lawsuits against school boards. He contended that such suits could potentially divert significant resources away from education and into litigation. Furthermore, he expressed concerns about holding school districts liable for peer-on-peer harassment when they may have limited control over student behavior. He also pointed out potential difficulties in defining what constitutes actionable harassment among children and teenagers whose interactions often involve teasing or other immature behavior. Lastly, he suggested that Congress did not intend to create a private right to sue under Title IX for damages resulting from peer sexual harassment when it enacted the law.