The U.S. Supreme Court appeared poised on Tuesday to rule in favor of parents in Maryland who had raised religious objections to books that were made available in elementary schools within a school district and included stories about gay and transgender characters.

In his lifelong home of Montgomery County, Maryland, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh reported being “surprised” during oral arguments on Tuesday in a case involving a school district and LGBTQ+ books.

The U.S. District Court of Maryland heard the case of Mahmoud v. Taylor on May 24, 2023, after parents of various religious backgrounds accused the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) district in Rockville, Maryland, of requiring their pre-K and elementary-aged children to read contentious LGBTQ+ books.

Christian, Jewish, and Muslim parents are among the plaintiffs who claim that the school district’s removal of a “opt-out” option for parents who were uncomfortable with the reading choices in their children’s classes violated their right to religious expression and, consequently, their First Amendment rights.

The Montgomery County Board of Education unveiled more than 20 new “inclusivity” books for students in pre-K through eighth grade as part of their “Pride Storybooks” in the fall of 2022. The disclaimer was that parents would be notified when their children were reading these kinds of books, giving them the choice to choose not to have their children read them.

However, worried parents contend that the schools’ brief parent education was insufficient. The school board declared in 2023 that it would no longer notify parents or comply with requests to opt out. There are over 70,000 kids in the district.