The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted the State of California Appellants’ request for a stay of an injunction pending appeal of a district court judge’s ruling in Mirabelli et al. v. Olson et al. 

The injunction, which the Ninth Circuit had previously blocked through a temporary administrative stay, prevented the California Attorney General and California Department of Education (“CDE”) from enforcing various laws that stopped teachers from informing parents of their children’s desire to be known by a different gender – including name and pronouns – at school.  CDE and the California Attorney General appealed and asked the appellate court to block enforcement of the injunction pending that appeal.  On January 5, 2026, the Ninth Circuit granted that request. 

In its order granting the stay, the Ninth Circuit found that the California State Appellants showed a “substantial cause of relief on the merits” of the appeal.  First, the appellate court expressed concern about the district court’s issuing an injunction that applied to every public school student and employee in the state of California; the district court, it said, did not have the authority to issue such a broad ruling and had not undergone the analysis to do so.  The appellate court also pointed out that the specific laws that the injunction barred the California State Appellants from enforcing were not clear. Lastly, the Ninth Circuit expressed skepticism about the merits of the district court’s decision, including its reliance on the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Mahmoud v. Taylor.  Because the California State Appellants showed a likelihood of succeeding on the merits of the appeal and a likelihood of harm if the preliminary injunction to take effect during the appeal, the appellate court granted the stay during the appeal.

The Ninth Circuit’s ruling means that the California Attorney General and CDE can continue enforcing state laws that prevent public school employees from informing parents that their child is going by a different name and/or pronouns at school without the student’s consent.  F3 Law will continue to monitor the status of the appeal and its outcome.