Here at the Religion Law Quiz we take note whenever the Supreme Court issues a ruling impacting the Free Exercise of Religion. Earlier this year the Supreme issued its Mirabelli v. Bonta decision. To start our discussion on it, what were the facts of the case?
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Answer: Here is an A.I. generated summary of the facts which are summarized from Mirabelli v. Bonta, 607 U.S. 492, 493–96, 146 S. Ct. 797, 800–02, 224 L. Ed. 2d 310 (2026):
The case began in federal district court in Southern California in 2023, when two teachers challenged school district policies concerning students’ gender identity and sought exemptions from those policies. The district asserted that California law, as interpreted by state officials, required the challenged practices, leading the teachers to add state officials as defendants and parents of California schoolchildren to join as plaintiffs. The plaintiffs alleged that California policies allowed schools to disclose a student’s gender transition to parents only with the student’s consent, and they claimed those policies violated the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause and the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.
Two sets of parent plaintiffs alleged that their daughters had socially transitioned at school without full parental disclosure or contrary to parental instructions, prompting the parents to transfer schools, seek therapy, or obtain psychiatric care. After defendants briefly argued that earlier guidance documents were no longer operative, they withdrew that position when a new state training curriculum imposed similar directions. The District Court certified parent and teacher subclasses, granted summary judgment for the plaintiffs, and issued a permanent injunction barring schools from misleading parents about their children’s gender presentation, requiring schools to follow parents’ directions on names and pronouns, and mandating notice of those rights in state materials. The Ninth Circuit stayed the injunction pending appeal, citing concerns about class certification, the breadth of relief, standing, and the merits, after which the parents and teachers sought Supreme Court relief from that stay.
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