Supreme Court takes up major case that could change everything

The highest court in the land isn’t taking any vacations. They are set to make some huge rulings.

And now the Supreme Court took up a major case that could change everything.

The Supreme Court announced Friday that it will hear a critical case examining whether a Maryland school district violated parents’ religious rights by refusing to let them opt their elementary school children out of lessons involving storybooks about gender and s*xuality.

At the center of the dispute is the Montgomery County School Board’s controversial decision to eliminate opt-out options and parental notifications for classroom readings and discussions of LGBTQ-themed storybooks.

The case pits parents’ rights to guide their children’s moral and religious education against the school district’s push to enforce a progressive curriculum. Whether the Supreme Court will hear arguments this term or next remains unclear.

The storybooks were introduced as part of the district’s 2022-2023 language-arts curriculum, under the pretense of fostering inclusivity. Montgomery County, Maryland’s largest school district, serves more than 160,000 students and claims the books represent its diverse population.

Titles like Pride Puppy, which follows a dog lost at a Pride parade, and Jacob’s Room to Choose, a story about two transgender children, sparked immediate concern among parents.

Lawyers for the district argued that these books “impart critical reading skills through engaging, age-appropriate stories,” and were chosen through what they called a “careful, public, participatory selection process.” However, parents were not given the option to shield their children from this material.

After these books were added to the curriculum, some parents began requesting that their children be excused from lessons involving them. Many of these requests were faith-based, as families sought to protect their children from exposure to content that conflicted with their deeply held religious beliefs.

Instead of respecting these requests, the district declared in March 2023 that it would no longer allow any opt-outs from language-arts instruction involving these books, regardless of the reason.

This unilateral decision outraged parents, who felt their rights were being trampled. Over 1,000 parents signed a petition demanding the reinstatement of opt-out options, and hundreds protested at school board meetings, arguing that their religious obligations required them to shield their children from lessons promoting gender ideology.

In May 2023, three groups of parents filed a lawsuit against the Montgomery County Board of Education, accusing the district of violating their First Amendment and due process rights.

The lead plaintiffs, Tamer Mahmoud and Enas Barakat, are Muslim parents of an elementary school student. Joining them are Chris and Melissa Persak, Roman Catholics with two young children, and Jeff and Svitlana Roman, who are Roman Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox parents of an elementary school boy.

The parents sought a court order to reinstate their right to notice and opt-outs, arguing that exposing their children to these storybooks placed an undue burden on their ability to freely practice their religion. Their plea was rejected by a federal district court, and the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that ruling.

In a deeply divided decision, the appellate court found no evidence that the families were compelled to change their beliefs or religious practices. However, the parents appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that the 4th Circuit’s decision essentially forces parents to relinquish their right to direct their children’s moral and religious upbringing if they send them to public schools.

“Under the Fourth Circuit’s reasoning, parents cannot be heard until after the damage has been done to their children. But there is no unringing that bell — by then, innocence will be lost and beliefs undermined,” they stated in their filing.

The Montgomery County School Board, meanwhile, urged the Supreme Court to dismiss the case, claiming the parents were attempting to undo long-standing precedent.

The board argued, “Parents who choose to send their children to public school are not deprived of their right to freely exercise their religion simply because their children are exposed to curricular materials the parents find offensive.”

This case marks a critical test for the balance between parental rights and the ideological direction of public schools.

For parents concerned about their ability to raise their children in accordance with their beliefs, the outcome could set a precedent that reverberates nationwide.

Stay tuned to the DC Daily Journal.