Supreme Court Grants Review in International Partners for Ethical Care v. Ferguson and Defending Education Files Amicus Brief Urging Court to Safeguard Parental Rights

After the Supreme Court granted review in the case, Defending Education filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on September 15, 2026, in International Partners for Ethical Care v. Ferguson, a challenge to a Washington state law that encourages gender-confused children to run away from home to seek so-called “gender-affirming treatment.” Under the law, parents are normally told when their runaway child arrives at a youth shelter. If the child says they are seeking these treatments, the shelter tells the state instead and keeps the parents in the dark. The state can then refer the child for controversial medical care without the parents’ consent, and the law sets no deadline for returning the child home. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the parents in this case had no standing to challenge the law, because they could not show the state would definitely hide their children from them.

Defending Education’s brief explains why that ruling is wrong. Well-established precedent confirms that, when state authorities enact policies whose chief purpose is to displace parental authority, parents have standing to challenge those policies. As recently as a few months ago, the Supreme Court held in Mirabelli v. Bonta that parents have the right not to be shut out of decisions about their children’s mental health. Washington’s law is aimed squarely at parents who hold traditional views on sex and gender, and it is already forcing them to change how they speak to and discipline their children for fear their child will run away. Parents should not have to wait until the state has taken their child before they can go to court. This case is one of national significance, and Defending Education urges the Supreme Court to reverse the Ninth Circuit and restore parents’ ability to defend their fundamental, constitutional, and long-recognized right to parent their children as they see fit.

Read the full brief: