CHICAGO, IL - The U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation into 36 Illinois public school districts didn’t come out of nowhere. It is the direct result of Mirabelli v. Bonta, a landmark Supreme Court case litigated by Chicago-based Thomas More Society that delivered a generational victory for parental rights and put every school district in America on notice.

On March 2, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of parents, finding that California’s secret gender transition policies in schools likely violate the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. “Parents—not the State—have primary authority with respect to ‘the upbringing and education of children,’” the Court’s opinion declared. Mirabelli was a decisive win for parental rights that reverberated far beyond California.

The message to every school district in America was unambiguous: review your policies, notify parents of their rights, and come into compliance. In California, the state’s own School Boards Association moved swiftly, issuing compliance guidance and retraining staff. Illinois school districts have the same roadmap, but many are choosing not to follow it.

“No school district in Illinois or anywhere in America can claim they weren’t warned,” said Peter Breen, Executive Vice President and Head of Litigation at Thomas More Society. “When we won Mirabelli v. Bonta at the Supreme Court, that ruling made clear in no uncertain terms that parents have a fundamental constitutional right to know what is happening with their own children at school. These districts had two months to act. The DOJ investigation is the direct consequence of their inaction.”

Breen continued, “Illinois parents deserve to know what is being taught to their children, and they deserve to be partners in their children’s lives not bystanders locked outside the schoolhouse door.”

To learn more about Mirabelli v. Bonta and Thomas More Society’s work defending parental rights, visit www.thomasmoresociety.org/mirabelli/.

For inquiries or interviews, please contact Katie Clancy, Communications Director, at kclancy@thomasmoresociety.org.