Supreme Court rules California cannot conceal students’ transgender identities from parents, declaring such policies unconstitutional parental-rights violations.
Newsroom (03/03/2026 Gaudium Press) In a ruling that reshapes the national debate over parental rights and student privacy, the U.S. Supreme Court on March 2 declared that California’s policy of keeping students’ asserted transgender identities secret from their parents violates the Constitution.
The 6–3 decision, described by advocates as a watershed moment for family rights and religious liberty, concluded that the state’s secrecy rules “likely violate the First Amendment rights of parents” whose children identify as a gender different from their biological sex. The judgment reverses a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals order that had temporarily upheld the state’s confidentiality practices in January.
The decision stems from a three-year legal battle initiated by a coalition of parents and teachers represented by the Thomas More Society, a religious liberty law firm that argued the policies intruded on both parental authority and educator free speech.
U.S. District Court Judge Roger Benitez had first sided with the plaintiffs in December 2025, holding that parents “have a right” to know when a child is identifying as transgender at school, and that teachers likewise possess the right to share that information. Benitez struck down the state’s guidelines, citing the 14th and First Amendments, though his ruling was paused by the Ninth Circuit weeks later.
The Supreme Court’s majority found that California’s secrecy rules “substantially interfere” with parents’ fundamental role in directing their children’s upbringing and faith formation. Referencing prior precedents on family autonomy, the justices wrote that parents have “the right not to be shut out of participation in decisions regarding their children’s mental health.”
The Court emphasized that gender dysphoria—a condition influencing emotional and psychological well-being—falls within this parental purview. “When a child exhibits symptoms of gender dysphoria at school,” the opinion stated, “California’s policies conceal that information from parents and facilitate a degree of gender transitioning during school hours.”
The majority opinion concluded that the state cannot enforce educational practices that “likely violate parents’ rights to direct the upbringing and education of their children.”
Thomas More Society attorney Paul Jonna hailed the decision as a landmark affirmation of constitutional family rights. “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,” he said. “This ruling dismantles secret gender transition policies across the country.”
Judge Benitez’s earlier finding underscored that even well-intentioned efforts to protect student privacy cannot override constitutional guarantees. “Even if the government could demonstrate that excluding parents was good policy on some level,” he wrote, “such a policy cannot be implemented at the expense of parents’ constitutional rights.”
With this Supreme Court ruling now binding, California’s public schools—and potentially others across the United States—face a legal mandate to fully involve parents in matters concerning their children’s gender identity, marking a pivotal moment in the intersection of educational policy, mental health, and constitutional law.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from CNA
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