Overview
- The Court vacated a Ninth Circuit stay and restored a district judge’s injunction that bars California from restricting schools’ disclosure of a student’s gender identity to parents who object on religious grounds.
- Relief applies to the parent plaintiffs only as the Court declined a parallel request from teachers challenging pronoun and disclosure requirements.
- The unsigned order says parents are likely to succeed on Free Exercise and related due‑process claims, citing last year’s Mahmoud precedent to apply strict scrutiny.
- California defends its framework, including AB 1955 and guidance, as protecting student privacy and permitting disclosure when safety requires it.
- The three liberal justices dissented, criticizing the use of the emergency docket, and the underlying case continues at the Ninth Circuit with the ruling’s effect remaining temporary.