A group of California parents and teachers filed an emergency application with the U.S. Supreme Court on January 8, 2026, seeking to reinstate a permanent injunction against state policies that restrict schools from notifying parents about a child’s gender transition. The applicants argue that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals erred in staying the district court’s injunction, which had blocked these “Parental Exclusion Policies” based on religious liberty and parental rights grounds. The filing highlights severe consequences of the secrecy policy, including an alleged suicide attempt by a student whose parents were kept in the dark. The appeal relies heavily on the recent Supreme Court decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor (2025), asserting that parents have a fundamental right to direct the upbringing and medical care of their children without state interference.
Case Info: Mirabelli v. Bonta, Emergency Application to Vacate Interlocutory Stay Order (U.S. Supreme Court, Jan. 2026).
Are parents challenging California’s law that prohibits parents from knowing what schools are doing about their child’s gender identity?
Yes, a group of California parents and teachers have formally asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene and reinstate a federal ban on school policies that conceal student gender transitions from parents. The applicants filed an emergency request to vacate a Ninth Circuit stay that currently permits school districts to withhold information regarding a child’s gender identity from their guardians.
This legal battle has reached the nation’s highest court following a rapid sequence of rulings in late 2025 and early 2026. On December 22, 2025, a federal district court declared the state’s secrecy policies unconstitutional and issued a permanent injunction. However, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals paused that injunction on January 5, 2026, effectively allowing the policies to remain in force while the appeal proceeds. This application argues that the Supreme Court must act now to prevent immediate, irreparable harm to families and to enforce its own recent precedents protecting parental rights.
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