Mahmoud v. Taylor

In 2022, the Montgomery County Board of Education (board) (defendant) in Maryland approved the inclusion of 13 LGBTQ+-inclusive books into the curriculum for the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). The approved books included five storybooks for elementary students that celebrated same-sex romantic relationships and discussed topics including gender identity. The board’s curriculum guidelines contemplated that teachers would incorporate the storybooks into classroom instruction and discussions. After the board launched the curriculum, some MCPS parents requested that their children be excused from classroom instruction about the storybooks. The board initially adopted a policy of notifying parents when the storybooks would be taught and allowing children to be excused at those times. However, the board eventually ended the notification and opt-out policies, citing concerns that (1) accommodating the opt-out requests would significantly disrupt the classroom and (2) allowing students to leave during discussion of the books would stigmatize and isolate other students. The board did allow curriculum opt-outs and parallel instructional programs for students in other contexts. An advocacy group and MCPS parents whose religious beliefs conflicted with the messages expressed in the storybooks (collectively, the parents) (plaintiffs) sued the board and the MCPS superintendent (defendant) in federal district court. The parents claimed the board’s policies infringed the parents’ rights to freely exercise their religion, and they sought injunctive relief prohibiting the board from requiring MCPS students to read, listen to, or discuss the storybooks if their parents objected. The parents also requested a preliminary injunction allowing their children to opt out of instruction about the books while the suit was pending. The district court denied relief, and the appellate court affirmed. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.