Supreme Court Temporarily Blocks California Rules Preventing Schools From Telling Parents About Their Children’s Gender Transitions

The U.S. Supreme Court has temporarily blocked California policies that prevent schools from notifying parents if their children start to identify as a different gender. On Monday evening, the court granted an emergency appeal by a conservative legal firm, the Thomas More Society, to reinstate a lower court’s order that blocked the policies. The high court’s three liberal justices dissented from the decision. The case stems from a lawsuit brought by a group of religious parents who say the policies violate their right to raise their children in line with their values. In December, a district court judge, Roger Benitez, blocked the policies, finding that they violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments. However, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit stayed that ruling, arguing that it was overly broad and misinterpreted the law. California has defended the policies, arguing that it does not impose a blanket ban on notifying parents about their child’s gender identity, and that it only applies if the students object to the information being shared. In an unsigned order on Monday, the Supreme Court’s majority said that the parents were “likely to succeed on the merits of their Free Exercise Clause claim.”“The parents who assert a free exercise claim have sincere religious beliefs about sex and gender, and they feel a religious obligation to raise their children in accordance with those beliefs,” the order said. “California’s policies violate those beliefs.”The court also said that “contrary to the Ninth Circuit’s suggestion,” Judge Benitez’s ruling was not overly broad as it “does not provide relief for all the parents of California public school students, but only for those parents who object to the challenged policies or seek religious exemptions.”Justice Elena Kagan said in the dissent, “If nothing else, this Court owes it to a sovereign State to avoid throwing over its policies in a slapdash way, if the Court can provide normal procedures. And throwing over a State’s policy is what the Court does today.”A special counsel at Thomas More Society, Paul Jonna, called the ruling a “watershed moment for parental rights in America.”“The Supreme Court has told California and every state in the nation in no uncertain terms: you cannot secretly transition a child behind a parent’s back,” Mr. Jonna said. “The Court’s landmark reaffirmation of substantive due process, its vindication of religious liberty, and its approval of class-wide relief together set a historic precedent that will dismantle secret gender transition policies across the country.”The policies will be blocked while the case plays out in the Ninth Circuit.Representatives for California’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication. The high court’s order could provide an insight into how the justices would rule if the California case winds up before them again. There are also other pending legal battles over similar policies in other states that might end up before the court. In December, a Maine woman asked the Supreme Court to take up her lawsuit against a school district in that state, alleging the school officials withheld information about her daughter’s gender transition. The court has not yet said whether it will take up that case.

Supreme Court Temporarily Blocks California Rules Preventing Schools From Telling Parents About Their Children’s Gender Transitions

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