Mirabelli v. Bonta

607 U. S. 492 (2026) · 3/02/26

The application filed by parents and teachers to vacate the Ninth Circuit’s stay of the District Court’s injunction pending appeal is granted as to the parents under the four-factor test in Alabama Assn. of Realtors v. Department of Health and Human Servs., 594 U. S. 758, 763 (2021) (per curiam).

ess Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The parents object that these policies prevent schools from telling them about their children's efforts to engage in gender transitioning at school unless the children consent to parental notification. The parents also take issue with California's requirement that schools use children's preferred names and pronouns regardless of their parents' wishes. The teachers object to their compelled participation in the implementation of the State's policies.

This case began in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California in 2023 when two teachers sued seeking an exemption from their school district's policies regarding students' gender. During litigation, the school district claimed that state law, as interpreted by the California attorney general and Department of Education, required it to adopt these policies. So the teachers added state officials as defendants, and parents of California schoolchildren joined the lawsuit as plaintiffs. Relying on their own experiences and guidance documents issued by state officials,…