U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear Washington parental rights case

By Andrew Rice
The Center Square

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a case challenging Washington state laws that allow minors to access mental health and gender-affirming care without consent from a parent.

Justices on the high court agreed to hear International Partners for Ethical Care v. Ferguson, a case that challenges three Washington laws regulating the rights of minors seeking mental health care and shelter services, specifically among minors who are transgender.

The high court will examine three laws challenged in the suit: one permitting minors who are at least 13 years old to receive “outpatient treatment” without parental consent; another law requires overnight shelters to reach out to the state instead of parents if a child runs away to seek “protected” health care, including gender-affirming care; and the third law allows children to stay in shelters for up to 90 days.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to take up a challenge to Washington’s laws last summer. Several justices on the 9th Circuit dissented from the decision not to hear the case.

“Washington’s legal regime governing gender-confused children now empowers its state-run shelters to hide minors from parents and to encourage them to travel further down the path of gender ideology,” Judges Eric Tung, Patrick Bumatay and Lawrence VanDyke wrote in a dissenting opinion.

The nation’s highest court previously upheld bans on minors from receiving hormones in an effort to transition genders. The court also heard a case challenging state bans on males who identify as females competing in women’s and girls’ sports.

“Washington’s legal regime therefore chills the rights of these parents to direct the care and upbringing of their children, strikes at the heart of what the parental right protects, and constitutes a current and ongoing invasion of the parents’ constitutional rights,” the judges wrote in their dissent.

Justices on the high court are expected to hear the case out in the fall or early 2027. A decision will likely be issued by June 2027.