All Episodes
Previous Next
July 29, 2025 - Epoch Times
10:35
Religious Americans Win Major Battle at the Supreme Court
| Copy link to current segment

Time Text
Late last week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a new ruling in favor of parents who were having a dispute with their local county school board.
Specifically, these were religious parents, mostly Muslims and Eastern Orthodox Christians, who wanted to make sure that their young kids were not being exposed to LGBTQ storybooks.
The parents wanted to be able to opt their kids out of having to learn that material, and they proved successful.
And in that process, they opened the door for everyone in the whole country to be able to do the same.
Let me give you the background on this particular case.
Back in November of 2022, you had a Maryland school district decide to mix it up a little bit in regards to what they were going to teach kids in elementary school.
You see, the Montgomery County Board of Education in November of 2022 issued a mandate requiring school employees to find what they called LGBTQ inclusive storybooks in order to promote issues like gender transitions, pride parades, as well as same-sex romantic relationships among young children.
Specifically, according to court documents that wound up being made public, quote, the Montgomery County Board of Education told employees responsible for selecting the books to review options through an LGBTQ plus lens and to ask whether stereotypes, cis normativity, and power hierarchies are reinforced or disrupted.
Then the court documents went on to give some concrete examples of the types of books that were actually selected.
You had titles like Pride Puppy, a picture book that tells kids what they might find at a pride parade and also urges the kids to search up images of things like underwear, lip rings, leather, and drag queens.
You had another book called What Are Your Words, which told the story of a transgender child whose pronouns change by the day.
Another book called Love Violet told the story of a homosexual playground romance.
Another book called Born Ready told the story of a girl who identified as a boy.
And then another book called Jacob's Room to Choose features a teacher in the book convincing her class to support gender-free bathrooms.
These are just several examples of the types of books that were selected in this particular county to be taught in kindergarten through grade number five.
Now, as you would imagine, many local parents in this particular county were not thrilled with this development.
However, at least initially, the parents were given the option to opt their kids out of being taught this material.
They would be told about the books that were on the docket beforehand, and then the parents could, of their own volition, choose to not send their kids.
Quote, At the time, parents were promised they would be notified and could opt their children out when the storybooks were read.
That practice was consistent with Maryland state law and the board's own policies, both of which contemplate parental choice and opt-outs.
But what eventually wound up happening was that you had so many parents choosing to opt their kids out of this educational experience that the school board actually changed tune.
By the next year, the county no longer allowed parents to opt out.
Quote, Without explanation, the board reversed course.
Beginning with the 2023-2024 school year, it announced no further notice would be provided and no opt-outs tolerated as to the storybooks.
If parents did not like what was taught to their elementary school kids, their only choice was to send them to private school or to homeschool.
Now, after this shift in policy was made, the summer school board meetings were packed with literally hundreds of religious parents, mostly local Muslims and Eastern Orthodox Christians, who objected to this policy, saying that, for one, these teachings that the school was giving on sexuality conflicted with their own faith, and that secondly, elementary school kids are not developed enough to process these types of sensitive topics.
But the school board did not take that criticism too well, quote, in response, board members publicly accused the parents of promoting hate and compared them to white supremacists and xenophobes.
And so the parents wound up filing a lawsuit against the school district, arguing that the school was violating the First Amendment right to the free exercise of religious faith.
Essentially, they said that they had a constitutional right to opt their kids out of this type of instruction.
But on the flip side, the school district said that there was no violation of rights, given the fact that, for one, the parents could always just discuss the storybook content with their kids after the kids came home from school.
And that secondly, the parents had the choice to send their kids to private school if they could afford it.
Now, at the lower levels, the parents actually lost.
Both at the district court as well as the appellate court level, the judges ruled against them, saying that the First Amendment rights were not being violated.
However, the parents appealed that, well, appellate court decision all the way up to the Supreme Court.
And eventually, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in their favor.
Specifically, in a six to three split decision, you had Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, Sam Alito, John Roberts, Neil Gorsuch, as well as Clarence Thomas all rule in favor of the parents.
Now, because this particular case involved a question related to religious freedom, the U.S. Supreme Court wound up applying what's known as strict scrutiny.
Now, we went through what that meant specifically in our previous episode, but basically, because this case involved a fundamental right, the U.S. Supreme Court applied the highest legal standard and they asked the question, is this policy narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling government interest?
The Supreme Court found that it wasn't, and therefore they reversed the decision of the two lower courts.
Writing for the majority, you have Justice Sam Alito write the following, quote, A government burdens the religious exercise of parents when it requires them to submit their children to instruction that poses a very real threat of undermining the religious beliefs and practices that the parents wish to instill.
And a government cannot condition the benefit of free public education on the parents' acceptance of such instruction.
Which he then goes on to write was exactly what was happening in this Maryland school district.
Quote, the storybooks promoted by the board are clearly designed to present certain values and beliefs as things to be celebrated and certain contrary values and beliefs as things to be rejected.
And the reason that he wrote that is because the school board wasn't just teaching a new subject, as they claimed.
Instead, writing for the majority of the Supreme Court, Sam Alito noted that the school board was very specifically pushing a certain viewpoint upon the kids.
Quote, We cannot accept the school board's characterization of the LGBTQ plus inclusive instruction as mere exposure to objectionable ideas or as lessons in Mutual respect.
As we have explained, the storybooks unmistakably convey a particular viewpoint about same-sex marriage and gender.
And the school board has specifically encouraged teachers to reinforce this viewpoint and to reprimand any children who disagree.
That goes far beyond mere exposure.
And as such, the U.S. Supreme Court went ahead, ruled in favor of the parents, and they issued a preliminary injunction.
All right, just to pause here for a super quick moment, I'd like to introduce our sponsor and my own personal gold dealer, American Hartford Gold.
Now, as soon as the latest round of tariffs hit, almost immediately, the stock market hit some serious waves, we could say.
It became super turbulent, very volatile.
And of course, these conditions don't just affect Wall Street.
They affect all of us with our investments and our retirement accounts.
That's why I want to introduce a company that I trust and I use myself to help secure my own savings, American Hartford Gold.
They specialize in helping Americans move their assets into something tangible, something you can actually hold, physical gold and physical silver.
Two precious metals that help me sleep better at night, knowing that I have a hedge against all those brilliant decisions being made over in Washington.
Now they have an A-plus rating with a Better Business Bureau.
They have thousands of five-star reviews, and they make the whole buying process super simple.
Your metals can be shipped directly to your doorstep, or you can transfer your current retirement account to a tax-advantaged gold IRA.
And the best part is that right now, American Hartford Gold is offering an exclusive buy one, get one deal for my viewers.
When you call them and mention my name, Roman, for every one ounce of gold that you purchase, you can get one ounce of free silver.
And so take advantage of this special offer.
Either call 866-242-2352 or simply text Roman to 65532.
That's again, 866-242-2352 or text Roman to 65532.
I'll also throw their information.
It'll be down in the description box below.
The case itself was then sent back down to the lower courts where the parents still have to jump through some legal hoops.
But as a practical matter, with the Supreme Court ruling in their favor, they will win the case.
And actually, with the preliminary injunction in place, while the case is still going through its various channels, the school district will have to inform the parents of this type of curriculum and give them the opportunity to opt out.
And so that is the practical result in Maryland.
But what this ruling also means for the rest of the country, including anyone watching this not from Montgomery County, is that if your school district starts doing the same thing, if they start to introduce this type of content into your kids' classroom, you will be able to force the school district to give you the option to opt out on religious grounds.
And if they don't offer you the opportunity to opt out, you will be able to take them to court and use this new Supreme Court ruling as precedent and essentially force them to give you the chance to opt out.
If you'd like to read the Supreme Court ruling for yourself, I'll throw the PDF version of it.
You'll be able to find it down in the description box below, which is that the same description box right below those like and subscribe buttons, both of which I hope you take a quick moment to smash.
And then lastly, let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Do you agree with this ruling?
Do you think that the Supreme Court ruled correctly?
Or do you agree with the three justices who dissented?
One of their basic arguments was that this would impose too much of an administrative burden on the school districts because you don't know what type of education might be, might run afoul of what religion.
And so it'll basically create a situation where they'll have to send like a whole docket of everything they're teaching the kids.
And then the parents will be able to opt out of anything they don't want their kids learning.
So it'll create like a logistical nightmare.
Do you agree with that?
What would you call it?
Argument?
Or do you agree that regardless of that argument, whether it's true or not, parents on religious grounds have a constitutional right to make sure that their kids aren't being taught things that they don't agree with and that don't align with their faith?
Please leave your comments in the comment section below.
I'd love to know them and I'll be reading through them tonight after the episode publishes, but also well into the week.
And then until next time, I'm your host, Roman from the Epoch Times.
Stay informed.
▲
Export Selection