Supreme Court turns away parental rights case over child's gender transition

Politics Supreme Court turns away parental rights dispute involving child's gender transition in school By Melissa Quinn Melissa Quinn Senior Reporter, Politics Melissa Quinn is a senior reporter for CBSNews.com, where she covers U.S. politics, with a focus on the Supreme Court and federal courts. Read Full Bio Melissa Quinn April 20, 2026 / 10:16 AM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google Washington — The Supreme Court on Monday turned away a legal battle testing whether a public school violates parents' rights when it encourages their child's social gender transition without their knowledge or consent.In rejecting the appeal from Massachusetts parents who sued their child's school district, the high court left untouched a lower court ruling that rejected their claim that their rights had been violated. But the justices may have another opportunity to weigh in on the simmering issue of parental rights in public schools, since a similar case brought by parents in Florida is awaiting action by the high court.The Supreme Court in October declined to take up a different court fight brought by two Colorado families. But Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, said at the time that the issue involving parents' rights is of "great and growing national importance."In a case on its interim docket, the Supreme Court in March blocked a California law that prevents school districts from requiring teachers to notify parents if their child seeks to use different pronouns while litigation moves forward. In courts across the country, a growing number of legal battles have been playing out that pit the rights of parents to direct their child's care against policies that aim to protect students' privacy and prevent public schools from outing transgender students to their families.The case that the high court turned away Monday was brought by Stephen Foote and Marissa Silvestri, whose middle-school-aged child, identified in court papers as...