Justice Samuel Alito expressed concern Tuesday that federal courts are attempting to “avoid confronting” the question of whether parental rights are violated when a school transitions a student’s gender without the parents’ permission or knowledge.
The Supreme Court declined to take up a case involving a middle school in Colorado that allegedly hid the promotion of gender ideology to students with their parents’ knowledge, with officials at the school giving prizes to students who “came out” as transgender at Gender and Sexualities Alliance meetings. While the majority of the high court did not elaborate on its decision to reject the petition to hear the case, Alito authored a statement joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch expressing concern over the issue at the center of the petition.
“I remain concerned that some federal courts are ‘tempt[ed]’ to avoid confronting a ‘particularly contentious constitutional questio[n]’: whether a school district violates parents’ fundamental rights ‘when, without parental knowledge or consent, it encourages a student to transition to a new gender
or assists in that process,'” Alito wrote.
Alito said he concurred in denying the specific petition in Lee v. Poudre School District R-1 because “petitioners do not challenge the ground for the ruling below.” He did express concern, however, over the “nearly 6,000 public schools” petitioners cited as having policies that hide information about a student’s gender identity from his or her parents.
“The troubling—and tragic—allegations in this case underscore the ‘great and growing national importance’ of the question that these parent petitioners present,'” Alito added.
America First Policy Institute, which backed the case, said it was “disappointed” by the high court’s decision not to review Lee v. Poudre School District R-1, but noted that its efforts to litigate similar school policies would continue.
“We’re disappointed the Court didn’t take this case—but our mission doesn’t end here,” Interim General Counsel for AFPI Gina D’Andrea said in a statement. “Schools should never be allowed to introduce complex, identity-shaping ideas in secret. And we will continue holding them accountable.”
“Every parent deserves the right to know what their child is being taught,” D’Andrea said. “We won’t stop fighting until that right is honored in every classroom in America.”
While the Supreme Court denied the petition in Lee v. Poudre School District R-1, Alito’s statement, joined by two other justices, could signal their interest in taking up one of the similar challenges that the high court has been asked to review.
SUPREME COURT ASKED TO WEIGH IN ON WHETHER SCHOOLS CAN SECRETLY TRANSITION STUDENTS
In Littlejohn v. Leon County School Board, two parents sued a Florida school district over an alleged “gender support” plan it developed for their child, without telling the parents. The plan was drafted in secret and would have formally transitioned the child’s gender at school without the parents’ knowledge.
The high court has already agreed to hear more than three dozen cases for its 2025-26 term, and is expected to add roughly an additional three dozen cases to the term in the coming weeks.
