Chief Justice Roberts Questions Lawyers About 'Opt-Outs' During Hearing On LGBTQ Books In Schools

Chief Justice John Roberts questions attorneys during oral arguments for Mahmoud v. Taylor, a case involving LGBTQ+ books in schools.

Transcript

00:00The school board alleges that the opt-out system became unworkable.

00:07Is that a factor we should take into account in deciding whether it could be required?

00:13Certainly, there could be situations where it could be unworkable.

00:17The board never raised that until after this litigation commenced.

00:20When they announced the withdrawal, they said it was because every student needed to read the inclusivity books.

00:25When they produced documents in response to an open records request,

00:28there was no mention of it not being workable.

00:32When parents met with the superintendents, this is in the Hisham Garti Declaration at JA44,

00:40the reason given there was inclusivity.

00:43There was no mention of administrability until the litigation has been filed.

00:49Even then, all the board was able to come up with was an argument that in one instance in one school

00:55there were dozens of students who opted out, where if the average school size in Montgomery County

00:59is 700 students across at least a dozen classrooms, you're talking maybe one student per classroom.

01:04That hardly compares with the one in eight students who are opted out for individual education programs,

01:1015% of students in Montgomery County who are taking English for speakers of a second language.

01:16The board's own opt-outs that are required from the same instruction required by state law

01:22to be opted out when the same books are read in health class.

01:25Counsel.

01:26The board's own opt-out.

01:27The board's own opt-out.

01:28The board's own opt-out.

01:29The board's own opt-in.

01:30The board's own opt-in.

01:31The board's own opt-in.

01:32The board's own opt-in.

01:33The board's own opt-in.

01:34The board's own opt-in.

01:35The board's own opt-in.

01:36The board's own opt-in.

01:37The board's own opt-in.

01:38The board's own opt-in.

01:39The board's own opt-in.

01:40The board's own opt-in.

01:41The board's own opt-in.

01:42The board's own opt-in.

01:43The board's own opt-in.

01:44The board's own opt-in.

01:45The board's own opt-in.

01:46The board's own opt-in.