Welcome to the TMS Weekly Dispatch for March 20, 2026—with the latest news and updates from the front line, to keep you in-the-know on all things Thomas More Society. If you missed last week's edition, click here.

Here's the latest from the past week:

NINTH CIRCUIT REJECTS CALIFORNIA'S ATTEMPT TO NARROW SUPREME COURT'S PARENTAL RIGHTS RULING: California has now lost at every level, and the courts keep saying the same thing: parents have the right to know what is happening with their children in school.

On March 17, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied California's emergency bid to circumvent the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Mirabelli v. Bonta, rejecting the state's attempt to narrow the landmark March 2 ruling that restored a class-wide permanent injunction blocking California schools from concealing students' secret "gender transitions" from their parents. In a two-page order, a three-judge panel agreed with Thomas More Society attorneys that the proper venue for any modification of the injunction is the district court—not the Ninth Circuit.

"California has now lost at the district court, lost at the Supreme Court, and been turned away by the Ninth Circuit," said Peter Breen, TMS Executive Vice President & Head of Litigation. "The state has repeatedly tried to paint parents who don't immediately accept their children's assertion of a new name and gender as 'abusive.' The courts have resoundingly rejected that premise."

The ruling came just eleven days after California hastily filed an emergency motion seeking to carve out a vague, standardless "abuse exception" to the injunction. Thomas More Society filed an opposition brief on March 10 calling the motion an "end-run around the Supreme Court." The Ninth Circuit's order sends California back to U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez if it wishes to seek any modifications.

Read the full press release here.

THOMAS MORE SOCIETY & SIDEWALK ADVOCATES FOR LIFE SUE DETROIT OVER LAW CRIMINALIZING PRO-LIFE SIDEWALK ADVOCACY: Thomas More Society has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of SidewalkAdvocates for Life and pro-life sidewalk counselor Kevin Hammer against the City of Detroit, challenging an ordinance that criminalizes peaceful, life-affirming speech outside abortion facilities. The law threatens fines and imprisonment for anyone who enters a fifteen-foot buffer zone around facility entrances or an eight-foot "floating bubble zone" around patients.

"This ordinance does not protect anyone. It makes it a crime to stand on a public sidewalk and offer a woman a choice," said Peter Breen, TMS Executive Vice President & Head of Litigation. "The government cannot wall off the public square so that women never hear they have alternatives to abortion."

Thomas More Society has a proven record of defeating similar ordinances, having secured victories for sidewalk counselors recently in Clearwater, Florida and Minneapolis, Minnesota, where the city was ordered to pay over $450,000 in attorneys' fees.

Read the full press release here.

THOUSANDS MARCH FOR LIFE AT ILLINOIS STATE CAPITOL: Yesterday, thousands came together at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield for the 2026Illinois Pro-Life March, which Thomas More Society was proud to co-host this year. Under the theme "Illinois Abortions Hurt American Women,"pro-life advocates from across the Midwest filled the streets around the Capitol, united in a powerful witness to the sanctity of human life.

TMS Executive Vice President & Head of Litigation Peter Breen spoke at the rally, along with TMS client Judy Cocks and many other inspiring speakers. It was a beautiful day as the crowd sent an unmistakable message to Illinois legislators: Illinoisians will never stop standing for life.