The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday denied certiorari in Lee v. Poudre School District R-1, (Docket No. 25-89, certiorari denied (10/14/2025) (Order List). In the case, parents of two 6th graders sued a Colorado school district for damages after their children were invited by teachers to a Gender and Sexuality Alliance meeting. After the meeting, one of the students decided that she was transgender and the other started to suffer from suicidal ideations. The parents claimed that the school's policy of discouraging disclosure to parents of a child's transgender status violates parents' substantive due process rights. The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the suit because plaintiffs had not alleged the existence of a school policy that was the moving force behind their constitutional injury. Parents' petition for Supreme Court review framed the question presented as:
Whether a school district may discard the presumption that fit parents act in the best interests of their children and arrogate to itself the right to direct the care, custody, and control of their children
In denying certiorari, Justice Alito, joined by Justices Thomas and Gorsuch, filed a concurring Statement, saying in part:
I concur in the denial of certiorari because petitioners do not challenge the ground for the ruling below. But 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.”... Petitioners tell us that nearly 6,000 public schools have policies—as respondent allegedly does—that purposefully interfere with parents’ access to critical information about their children’s gender identity choices and school personnel’s involvement in and influence on those choices.... The troubling—and tragic—allegations in this case underscore the “great and growing national importance” of the question that these parent petitioners present....
CBS News reports on the Court's action
