SCHOOL SYSTEMS AND PARENTAL RIGHTS
Liberty Justice Center is representing Chino Valley Unified School District, which is currently being sued by Attorney General Rob Bonta because he believes the government and school systems should keep secrets from parents about their own minor children. Even though 84% of California voters support such a local rule regarding parental notification.
LJC President Jacob Huebert on AG Rob “Bontradiction” Bonta’s Latest Hypocrisy
Given California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s latest hypocrisy when it comes to parental rights regarding their minor children—the following is a statement from Liberty Justice Center President Jacob Huebert after it was announced by Rob “Bontradiction” Bonta himself that he now supports protecting youth with parental consent and involvement in their children’s lives. SB 976 would require social media platforms to allow parents to control what appears in their children’s social media feeds. AB 1949 would require parents to give their informed consent for minors under 13.
Statement from Jacob Huebert, President, Liberty Justice Center:
“How interesting that Rob Bonta doesn’t want parents to know what their children are doing at school—but wants California to enact legislation to give parents more control over their children’s social media use. That legislation isn’t necessary—if it’s important to them, parents already can know what their kids are doing online and control their access to the internet. But parents can’t know what’s happening at their children’s schools if the government—specifically, Rob Bonta—is deliberately blocking them from finding out. If Bonta really cared about parents’ rights and protecting children, he wouldn’t try to keep secrets from parents about what’s going on with their own children when they’re in the government’s care at school. So he’s not consistent about empowering parents or protecting children. Instead, it looks like the only thing he’s consistent about is maximum government interference in parents’ and children’s lives.”
Bonta shared his newfound concern for parental rights with ABC 7:
“Social media companies unfortunately show us time and time again that they’re all too willing to ignore the detriment to our children, the pain to our children; mental health and physical health challenges that they face in order to pursue profits,” Bonta said. He said the addiction bill put parents in control of what their kids see online.
Newport Beach Mayor Will O’Neill has also called out his hypocrisy:
“Seriously. Under SB 976, a kid couldn’t join Facebook or TikTok unless the social media company first obtained ‘verifiable parental consent.’ Which, while I like the idea of controlling my kids’ access to social media, is probably unworkable as a law. But the workability of this law isn’t the real, glaring issue in this story. Not one of those three elected officials actually trust parents. I mean, the chutzpah for Rob Bonta is unreal. He’s using his state power to sue the Chino Valley Unified School District to stop a policy that requires schools to inform parents if their child requests to use a different name or use a different gendered pronoun. In other words, he wants a kid to get parent consent before joining Instagram, but not before changing gender.”
The Liberty Justice Center is a nonprofit, public-interest litigation center that fights to protect fundamental constitutional rights. The Liberty Justice Center is best known for its 2018 U.S. Supreme Court victory in Janus v. AFSCME. Learn more about the Liberty Justice Center at LibertyJusticeCenter.org