Overview
- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit granted a preliminary injunction on June 19 that stops enforcement of Sections 5 and 6 of AB 1955 for the named plaintiff-parents in City of Huntington Beach v. Newsom.
- The injunction bars California from using the law to prevent school staff from informing those plaintiff-parents about their children’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression without the children’s consent.
- The three-judge panel (Judges Daniel Collins, Kenneth Lee, and Lucy Koh) said the parents very likely have standing and that the law likely deprives them of constitutional parental rights, citing the Supreme Court’s Mirabelli emergency order as controlling guidance.
- Plaintiffs include the city of Huntington Beach and a group of parents represented by America First Legal and Schaerr | Jaffe, and the court’s decision reverses earlier refusals for emergency relief after the high court’s recent parental-rights rulings.
- The ruling could prompt further appeals to the Supreme Court and shifts a national fight over parental authority, student privacy, and school confidentiality that affects how schools, parents, and students handle gender-related disclosures.