Today's opinion in Mirabelli v. Bonta involved, on the merits, California policies that "prevent schools from telling them about their children's efforts to engage in gender transitioning at school unless the children consent to parental notification" and "require[] that schools use children's preferred names and pronouns regardless of their parents' wishes."
But the procedure was unusual: The injunction had been issued by the District Court and appealed to the Ninth Circuit, which temporarily stayed (i.e., blocked) the injunction pending appeal. The Supreme Court was asked to vacate the stay, and thus reinstate the injunction, again pending appeal. That's the kind of procedure that happens on the Court's "shadow docket" or "emergency docket" or "interim relief docket." And the Justices had an interesting discussion about this. From the unsigned majority opinion:
We grant the application and vacate the stay with respect to the parents because this aspect of the stay is not "justified under the governing four-factor test."
Likelihood of success on the merits. We conclude that the parents … are likely to succeed on the merits of their Free Exercise Clause claim [and substantive due process claim]. [For details, see this post. -EV] …
Irreparable harm. The denial of plaintiffs' constitutional rights during the potentially protracted appellate process constitutes irreparable harm.
Balance of equities. Finally, the "equities do not justify depriving [the parents] of the District Court's judgment in their favor. Everyone agrees that children's safety is the overriding equity. And the injunction here promotes child safety by guaranteeing fit parents a role in some of the most consequential decisions in their children's lives. The injunction also permits the State to shield children from unfit parents by enforcing child-abuse laws and removing children from parental custody in appropriate cases. [The majority didn't expressly discuss the fourth factor, the public interest, but its discussion dealt with it implicitly. -EV] …
