Parent control vs child's right to privacy: US SC blocks California law protecting transgender students from being outed

The United States Supreme Court on 2 March blocked a California state law which banned schools from bypassing a student's consent to notify their parents if the children identify as transgender, AP reported.

The judgement came while the state argued that the law protects children's right to privacy and prevents schools from outing students to their families amid fear of rejection. In opposition, conservative and religious groups pushed for increased parental control and argued that the law caused schools to mislead them and secretly facilitate their children's social transition.

Two sets of Catholic parents represented by the Thomas More Society and some educators challenged California school policies. Notably, the hearing is still ongoing.

“The parents who assert a free exercise claim have sincere religious beliefs about sex and gender, and they feel a religious obligation to raise their children in accordance with those beliefs. California’s policies violate those beliefs,” and burden the free exercise of religion, the majority wrote in an unsigned order.

The SC's three liberal justices publicly dissented, saying the case is still working its way through lower courts and there was no need to step in now. “If nothing else, this Court owes it to a sovereign State to avoid throwing over its policies in a slapdash way, if the Court can provide normal procedures. And throwing over a State’s policy is what the Court does today,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote.

Conservative Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, meanwhile, noted they would have gone further and granted teachers' appeal to lift restrictions for them.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom's office defended the law, saying teachers should be focused on instruction, not required “to be gender cops.” Marissa Saldivar, a spokesperson for the Democratic governor told AP, the order “undermines student privacy and the ability to learn in a safe and supportive classroom, free from discrimination based on gender identity”.

The California order comes months after the court upheld state bans on gender-identity-related healthcare for minors. The justices also seem to be leaning toward allowing states to ban transgender athletes from playing on girl's sports teams.

School policies for transgender students, meanwhile, have also been on the court’s radar in other cases.

The court rebuffed another similar case out of Wisconsin in December, but three conservative justices indicated they would have heard the case. Justice Samuel Alito called the school policies “an issue of great and growing national importance.”

The justices have been weighing whether to hear arguments in cases out of states like Massachusetts and Florida filed by other parents who say schools facilitated social transition without informing them.

The Trump administration, meanwhile, found in January that California's policies violated parents' right to access their children's education records. The Justice Department also sued after determining the states' transgender athlete policies violate federal civil rights law.

(With inputs from AP)