(January 8, 2025 – San Diego, California) On January 7, 2025, U.S. District Court Judge Roger T. Benitez denied in a court order all Motions to Dismiss in Mirabelli v. Olson, the Thomas More Society lawsuit challenging “Parental Exclusion Policies.” The Motions to Dismiss filed by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, and members of the California Department of Education and the Escondido Union School District, unsuccessfully attempted to throw out the lawsuit by arguing that Parental Exclusion Policies are “just a suggestion” and have therefore not harmed the teacher- and parent-plaintiffs represented by Thomas More Society, and that the plaintiffs had not adequately alleged that parents’ constitutional rights were violated.

Judge Benitez, however, in his written order, found that all the plaintiffs enjoy standing and “have stated plausible claims upon which relief can be granted” by the Court. “The Supreme Court has long recognized that parents hold a federal constitutional Due Process right to direct the heath care and education of their children,” Judge Benitez wrote in his order denying the Motions the Dismiss. “The Defendants stand on unprecedented and more recently created state law child rights to privacy and to be free from gender discrimination.”

Paul Jonna, Thomas More Society Special Counsel and Partner LiMandri & Jonna LLP, reacted: “We are incredibly pleased that the Court has denied all attempts to throw out our landmark challenge to California’s parental exclusion and gender secrecy regime. Judge Benitez’s order rightly highlights the sacrosanct importance of parents’ rights in our constitutional order, and the First Amendment protections afforded to parents and teachers. We look forward to continuing to prosecute this case against California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the other defendants, to put this issue to rest once and for all—by obtaining class-wide relief on behalf of all teachers and parents.”

“By concealing a child’s gender health issues from the parents, parents are precluded from exercising their religious obligations to raise and care for their child at a time when it may be highly significant,” Judge Benitez continued. “[T]he teachers make out a plausible claim for relief under the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause.”

“This Court concludes that, in a collision of rights as between parents and child, the long-recognized federal constitutional rights of parents must eclipse the state rights of the child,” the court order added. Mirabelli v. Olson is now permitted to continue forward as Thomas More Society attorneys seek class-wide and statewide relief for California parents and teachers against school district policies that force teachers to hide information from parents about their own children’s health and mental well-being.

Read the Order Denying Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss, on January 7, 2025, in Mirabelli, et al. v. Olson, et al., here.

Read background on Mirabelli, et al. v. Olson, et al., here.