California’s gender transition policy for public schools, which requires teachers to hide from parents whether their child is seeking a gender transition, cannot be enforced, the Supreme Court decided Monday.

The case, Mirabelli v. Bonta, had argued California’s policy requires public schools to hide children’s expressed transgender status at school from their parents. Conservative legal organizations contended the policy grossly violates parental rights and teachers’ freedoms of speech and religion.

The high court agreed.

“California’s policies likely trigger strict scrutiny under [the free exercise clause] provision because they substantially interfere with the ‘right of parents to guide the religious development of their children,'” the Mirabelli order stated.

The court cited its own 2025 ruling in Mahmoud v. Taylor that parents have a right to remove their children from classroom activities harmful to their religious beliefs in defending the Mirabelli order.

“The landmark 6-3 decision is the most significant parental rights ruling in a generation,” the Thomas More Society, which represented the parents, stated in a news release Monday.

“The Court found that California’s secret transition regime likely violates parents’ rights under both the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, holding that the state ‘cut out the primary protectors of children’s best interests: their parents.'”

Paul Jonna, special counsel at Thomas More Society, stated the order “is a watershed moment for parental rights in America.”

The three liberal justices dissented. 

“Justice Sonia Sotomayor did not explain her vote. But Justice Elena Kagan, joined by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, wrote that the decision amounts to a ‘malfunction’ of the court’s emergency docket,” The Hill reported.  

In late December, a judge ruled in favor of the parents, and issued a permanent injunction against the policy. Judge Roger Benitez decided “it’s wrong to deprive parents of significant information that may affect their child’s well-being and health,” the San Diego Union-Tribune reported, adding the judge said the First Amendment protects teachers’ right to inform parents.

In January, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals stayed the district court’s injunction, prompting the plaintiffs to seek emergency relief from the Supreme Court to reinstate the injunction. 

Monday’s ruling vacated the Ninth Circuit’s stay, effectively reinstating the injunction against California’s “Parental Exclusion Policies.”

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