A memo to U.S. attorneys and the FBI from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi cited a “disturbing trend” of silencing parents on curriculum issues. As a result, on September 8, 2025 the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) warned that public schools must provide parents with avenues to opt their children out of instruction related to sexuality and gender ideology or risk scrutinization by the DOJ.
In fact, Bondi’s memo directs the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division “to be alert” to violations of parental rights at schools and for U.S. district attorneys nationwide to weed out and respond to “credible threats against parents.” She also wrote, “While schools must maintain order, such authority cannot be used as a pretext to silence dissent or punish parents for expressing their views,” and, “Let me be clear: when school board members, administrators, and other government officials threaten law-abiding parents, they can and will be held accountable.” She also cited a “rise in abusive conduct” by “government actors” against parents, noting that “conspiring” to violate constitutional rights is a federal crime.
The memo referenced the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision Mahmoud v. Taylor, in which justices found that Maryland’s Montgomery County Public Schools violated parents’ rights when it didn’t allow them to opt students out of LGBTQ+-inclusive curriculum based on religious objections.
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