San Diego, CA - Thomas More Society attorneys have filed an emergency application with the U.S. Supreme Court requesting immediate intervention in Mirabelli v. Bonta. On December 22, 2025, a federal district court issued a class-wide permanent injunction blocking California’s gender secrecy policies. Just two weeks later, on January 5, 2026, the Ninth Circuit stayed that injunction, allowing the policies to resume in public schools for the duration of the appeal.

“Right now, California’s parental deception scheme is keeping families in the dark and causing irreparable harm. That’s why we’re asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene immediately,” said Paul M. Jonna, Special Counsel for Thomas More Society and Partner at LiMandri & Jonna LLP. “The state is inserting itself unconstitutionally between parents and children, forcing schools to deceive families, and punishing teachers who tell the truth.”

Among the plaintiffs are “John” and “Jane Poe,” devout Catholic parents who were never told their junior-high daughter was being treated as male at school for nearly a year. They only learned the truth after she attempted suicide. Unable to afford private school, they transferred her to another public school and expressly requested notice of her gender presentation and the use of her legal name and biological pronouns. To this day, citing state policy, the school refuses to respect the parents’ requests. With the injunction now stayed, the Poes remain in the dark about their own daughter.

“No parent should learn their child was in crisis because the government ordered schools to keep secrets,” Jonna said.

The December 22 ruling by U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez held that California’s policies violated parents’ fundamental right to direct the upbringing of their children and the First Amendment rights of teachers. After Attorney General Rob Bonta appealed, the Ninth Circuit stayed the injunction—wrongly suggesting the ruling applied to every parent and teacher in California, when the certified class is limited to those who object to the policies on moral or religious grounds.

“California has spent three years evading accountability—scrubbing websites, hiding policies in teacher training, shifting legal arguments,” said Peter Breen, Executive Vice President and Head of Litigation at Thomas More Society. “We won’t let procedural gamesmanship delay justice for these families. The appellate court’s order misstated the record and ignored recent Supreme Court precedent, and we are confident in the strength of our legal position.”

“Parents cannot be told to stand around while their children are harmed,” Jonna said. “The Supreme Court should stay the Ninth Circuit’s cursory order and allow the district court’s permanent injunction to take effect immediately.”

In addition to the Supreme Court application, Thomas More Society attorneys are today filing a motion seeking en banc reconsideration of the stay order with the full Ninth Circuit.

“The Constitution does not allow the state to replace parents or conscript teachers into deception,” Jonna added. “The Supreme Court must act now.”

Read the Emergency Application to Vacate Interlocutory Stay Order Issued by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, filed January 8, 2026, in the U.S. Supreme Court by Thomas More Society attorneys.

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*Updated 1/8/25 4:44 CT with amended filing link