The Montgomery County School Board in Maryland had to pay parents who filed a lawsuit $1.5 million in damages after violating their parental rights.
The Supreme Court ruled in Mahmoud v. Taylor (2025) that by failing to notify parents about objectionable material and allowing them to opt their children out violated the Free Exercise Clause.
A California school district is trying to defy that ruling.
Justin and Rose Taylor oppose “transgender” indoctrination for their children and wanted to be notified of upcoming instruction and to exempt their children from attending. The Sunnyvale School District refused to do either.
The Taylors sued the school district. Their legal counsel, Becket Law, said the school district refused to comply. The bureaucrats told teachers to “resist pressures” of parents to have say over what their children are exposed to and said Mahmoud applied only to Maryland.
Sunnyvale must have bad lawyers. The Taylors asked a federal court to protect their parental rights.
“Our children are the most cherished part of our lives,” said the Taylors. “We know and love them best and should be the ones deciding when and how they learn about sensitive topics regarding sexuality and gender.”
Michael O’Brien, a Becket lawyer and lead lawyer for the Taylors, said the U.S. Constitution “doesn’t come with a California carveout.”
Parents’ rights to direct their children’s upbringing should be universal. That’s not the case in some countries, but this is America.
Photo credit: BecketFund.org
