SCOTUS NEWS

Justices turn down parents’ challenge to school support plans for trans students

The Supreme Court did not add any new cases to its merits docket for the 2024-25 term in a scheduled list of written orders on Monday morning. The justices denied review in over 60 cases, including a challenge to a Maryland county’s guidelines to provide support for transgender students.

In John and Jane Parents 1 v. Montgomery County, Md., three parents sought to challenge guidelines adopted by the county, to create support plans for transgender students that do not require the knowledge or consent of the students’ parents. The parents argued that the guidelines violated, among other things, their fundamental rights to determine the care and upbringing of their children.

A federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., threw out the parents’ lawsuit. It reasoned that the parents lacked a legal right to sue, known as standing, because they had not alleged either that they had been, or were likely to be, denied information about their children under the county’s guidelines.

The parents came to the Supreme Court last fall, asking the justices to weigh in on whether they in fact have standing and, if so, on the constitutionality of the guidelines. But after pushing back their consideration of the parents’ petition for review several times, the justices denied review without comment on Monday.

The justices did not act on a trio of petitions challenging bans by Kentucky and Tennessee on gender-affirming care for minors. The challengers – the Biden administration and families in Tennessee and Kentucky – contend that the laws violate the Constitution’s equal protection clause. The justices could decide whether to take up those petitions, as well as others, as soon as their private conference on Thursday, May 23. Orders from that conference are expected on Tuesday, May 28, at 9:30 a.m.

This article was originally published at Howe on the Court.