Supreme Court blocks California ban on notifying parents about student gender changes
The Supreme Court on Monday granted an emergency appeal from the conservative legal group the Thomas More Society, temporarily blocking a California law that barred schools from automatically notifying parents if students change their gender expression or pronouns, the court said.
The Thomas More Society praised the decision as “the most significant parental rights ruling in a generation,” and said two sets of Catholic parents it represents had argued the 2024 law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom caused schools to mislead them and secretly facilitate students’ gender transitions.
California officials said students have a right to privacy about their gender expression, particularly if they fear rejection from family members. State education officials told school districts last year that the state’s policy “does not mandate nondisclosure,” and Newsom’s office said parents “continue to have full, guaranteed access to their student’s education records as required by federal law,” the state has said.
The court’s unsigned order said, “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. California’s policies violate those beliefs,” and added that state policies also burden the free exercise of religion. Conservative Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas said they would have gone further and granted teachers’ appeal to lift restrictions for them. The three liberal justices dissented; Justice Elena Kagan wrote that the court should avoid upending a state’s policies “in a slapdash way.”
The move follows a December 2025 federal judge’s ruling that schools cannot prevent teachers from sharing information about a student’s gender identity with parents, a decision that was blocked by an appeals court last month. The U.S. Department of Education last month found the California law violates federal law and said the findings could put at risk nearly $8 billion in annual education funding if state officials do not resolve the violations, the department said. The Trump administration is also pursuing separate legal action against California over a policy allowing biological males to compete in girls’ sports, federal officials have said.
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