The John-Henry Westen Show - LANDMARK Parental Rights Case Hits SUPREME COURT

00:00:00.000 It is not just that they're reading these books with this content that is so inappropriate

00:00:06.140 for children. It's that there is discussion that goes with it.

00:00:12.920 Hello, my friends, and welcome. Tonight, a story that cuts right to the heart of what it means to

00:00:18.200 be a parent in America and a Catholic parent in a culture that is rapidly losing its mind.

00:00:24.560 Imagine this. You raise your children in the faith. You teach them truth. You sacrifice. You pray.

00:00:32.240 You live your life with integrity. Two of your sons become Catholic priests, and a third is in seminary,

00:00:39.160 and as a family, you dedicate yourselves to defending life, standing up to one of the nation's

00:00:45.360 most notorious late-term abortionists, and building a culture of life in one of the most

00:00:50.760 ideologically aggressive parts of the country. Now imagine that same family, deeply faithful,

00:00:58.980 incredibly accomplished, is having to engage in massive legal battles simply because they believe

00:01:06.320 parents should be able to opt out their children from books in public schools that promote

00:01:13.620 transgenderism, same-sex romance, gender confusion, to kindergartners. Books that aren't just confusing,

00:01:24.240 they're spiritually corrosive, sexually charged, and in many cases, outright propaganda.

00:01:30.960 That family is the Morrison family. Dr. Grace Morrison is a Catholic mother, a dental surgeon,

00:01:37.600 and a pro-life warrior. With us tonight, alongside her attorney, Will Hahn, from the Beckett Fund for

00:01:44.460 Religious Liberty, she joins us to talk about the fight for parental rights in Maryland, a case now

00:01:51.180 heading to the United States Supreme Court. This isn't just about Montgomery County. It's about whether

00:01:58.300 you, as a parent, have any say at all in how your children are formed, whether you get to opt out,

00:02:05.880 or whether your kids belong to the state. Grace Morrison and Will Hahn, so good to be with you

00:02:11.880 both. So good to be with you. Good to be with you. Let's begin, as you always do, with the sign of the

00:02:17.780 cross. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. So Grace, you and your

00:02:25.720 husband are amazing Catholic parents. You've been really outspoken leaders in the pro-life world,

00:02:31.960 in the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. Tell us a little bit about your family. I don't want to

00:02:37.200 spoil it for everybody, but when I heard about your family, I was just blown away, and that really

00:02:42.660 sparked the need to have you on the show. So tell us about your family. My husband and I, we have

00:02:47.660 seven children. We have six children by birth. Our oldest is in his 30s, and youngest is in college

00:02:59.300 at Franciscan University in Ohio. And then we adopted a daughter from Ukraine when she was an

00:03:05.880 infant, and she's now 12 years old. And that is how we became involved in the case that has now gone to

00:03:13.520 the Supreme Court, because she was in the public school system since she was a child. Our oldest

00:03:19.640 children, we primarily homeschooled them. The oldest ones were in the private school,

00:03:27.580 in a parochial school for a few years, and then we homeschooled. You know, they've remained faithful.

00:03:33.580 We raised them in the Catholic faith. And again, that's why this lawsuit has been so, so important

00:03:39.940 to us, to be able to continue that for our youngest daughter. But our older children, we did homeschool

00:03:47.560 them. Our oldest two sons are now priests in the Archdiocese of Washington, diocesan priests. Our

00:03:58.520 daughter is a nurse practitioner and happily married and mother of two children, our grandchildren. And

00:04:07.400 then we have a son who, God willing, will be ordained also a priest in the Archdiocese of Washington.

00:04:15.660 So one of the reasons why I had to talk to you was, I've got eight children, a lot of big families

00:04:20.000 who watch LifeSite. And we all kind of wonder, how do you get a priest? You know, I've got six

00:04:26.300 boys. I always said, you know, Lord, you can have six priests if you want, but one would be really

00:04:29.480 good. So you're on your third now. What's the magic saucer of what are you guys doing?

00:04:34.340 I would say a big part of it is, of course, God's mercy. It really is. I think we were from,

00:04:41.800 in a very anointed time in our Catholic homeschooling community where our family is not unique and that

00:04:51.620 there are other families with multiple vocations that came from our homeschooling community. I really

00:04:57.980 believe that it's what the Lord needed for these times. And we just taught them to be generous to

00:05:06.360 whatever God was calling them to and be the best way that I would say that we could explain it. We,

00:05:13.500 you know, expose them to all vocations. We let them see that priesthood and religious life,

00:05:21.880 like married life, it can be very joyful and happy and just to be generous with the Lord.

00:05:28.260 I think that's the way that it kind of came about in our family. We taught them that the saints

00:05:34.320 were, were the heroes. So their lives inspired them and made them courageous, I believe too.

00:05:42.280 Beautiful. One of the things I read about families that practice the faith and have their children

00:05:47.900 practice the faith after them, a couple of findings, which totally, I think apply in your life,

00:05:53.240 but the one I want to get to one is the dad's faith, but the second one, and the one I want to get

00:05:58.820 to is activism, actual work. And for pro-lifers, it's obvious. And you guys were huge activists in

00:06:06.660 the pro-life community. Tell us about that. Yeah, we heard about the infamous late-term abortionist,

00:06:14.740 Leroy Carhart, who came to our, our community. And it was honestly, my children who, you know,

00:06:25.540 we were homeschooling and we knew that late-term abortions were taking place that they began on 0.66

00:06:31.060 Monday mornings, and then they would continue and complete the process like three days later. So we

00:06:37.040 knew the important time to be out there was Mondays. And it was really my children that said,

00:06:42.620 you know, before we start our school day, let's go and pray. And that's really how it happened.

00:06:47.860 And when we really saw the, what was happening with these women, and most of them, even children

00:06:54.820 that were going in to have late-term abortions, we kind of helped wake up the community and wake up 0.94

00:07:03.080 our parish. And it's really our parish that became very involved. I would say hundreds from the parish

00:07:08.640 were out there. And we were out there for seven years at Faithfully every single week.

00:07:15.600 We did have, that we know of, over 400 moms who chose life. We got to see these moms, see these

00:07:24.640 babies, be at their birthday parties, baptisms. It was quite a beautiful work of the Lord. He really

00:07:33.120 blessed it. Then eventually the abortionists left, went somewhere, went into Bethesda. And so our work

00:07:42.740 was kind of done in our community and many continued on in Bethesda, but that's sort of how it came

00:07:48.640 about. And it was a very slow listening to the promptings of the Holy Spirit of how to carry this

00:07:55.660 out and listening to the Lord. As this was unfolding, when this starts, you and your husband,

00:08:00.560 you're reflecting on what's happening. You're doing this for seven years. So this has become part of

00:08:05.400 your lives. Did you question what you were doing? Did you see an effect in your kids? How did that play out?

00:08:11.340 Well, I think that for one, we absolutely saw the fruit of it. We saw just an amazing amount of

00:08:19.900 people who became involved. It was beautiful to see the youth becoming involved and quite amazing to

00:08:28.340 see how many of the youth that were out there went on to do work in other ministries because of being out

00:08:39.100 there and many in the pro-life ministry, some in the pro-life work in EWTN. There were youth out there

00:08:45.260 that then also entered the priesthood and religious life. So I do think that it gave them courage to

00:08:53.680 kind of stand in these times. So yes, it was a part of homeschool education that I didn't expect,

00:09:01.200 but I think you're right. You're onto something that it did help to form them and make them

00:09:06.880 courageous for these times.

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00:09:31.940 LifeSite News in your will. Visit MyLegacyWill.com slash LifeSiteNews. Thank you for your support and

00:09:39.860 may God bless you. Now, Grace, you're part of a court case now dealing with the right of parents

00:09:47.100 in Montgomery County, Maryland, where you and your family reside to opt out of their K-12 public school,

00:09:53.560 your public school children from reading controversial LGBTQ plus books that promote

00:10:00.020 a one-sided message about trans ideology, encourage gender transitioning, and promote

00:10:04.860 sort of same-sex romance. First of all, have you personally reviewed these books yourself?

00:10:10.060 Yes, I have. Yes.

00:10:11.960 And what's your take on them? Can you describe what you saw, what you found?

00:10:15.800 I was very shocked by them. Our daughter has special needs. She's a child with Down syndrome.

00:10:22.480 And we had her involved in the public school system since she was three. And she was thriving,

00:10:32.940 doing very well. So she was 10 years old when these books started to be introduced. She was probably

00:10:40.440 actually nine, but by 10, I became aware of it. I was actually walking down to going on a walk. I had

00:10:47.960 just finished homeschooling my son, who would have been the last child I was homeschooling,

00:10:56.140 having a little victory walk after like 21 years of homeschooling. And the neighbor said,

00:11:01.960 what are you going to do about the books? And as I was walking, I felt that little nudge of the Holy

00:11:07.400 Spirit saying, you're not done homeschooling. I was like, what books?

00:11:12.420 And so then I quickly went and started to investigate what was going on and found out that

00:11:20.940 in fact, Montgomery County had decided that they were introducing these books. And originally there

00:11:29.120 was an opt-out and notification in place, and they made an overnight raise and decision that they were

00:11:35.680 removing the opt-out parental rights, and they were not going to notify us. So I did start to look at

00:11:44.180 these books and they were, I was astounded that they would be presenting these materials to three,

00:11:54.680 four, five, you know, elementary school children, where one of the books is called Pride Puppy. And this

00:12:02.260 was one that was going to be presented, was presented in my daughter's class, but I kept her home because

00:12:08.220 by the grace of God, I sound out. So I did feel like that was a blessing and a protection.

00:12:14.560 But it goes through the alphabet where it's basically a family of two moms and some children 0.77

00:12:24.240 going to a pride parade, and they have them go through the alphabet. Well, some of the things that

00:12:29.100 they are having them identify and look for are, you know, U is for underwear, L is for leather.

00:12:36.300 They talked about a very controversial LGBTQ trans person who I believe is maybe no longer living,

00:12:47.160 but having to identify this person at the parade. So these are little tiny children. So, so,

00:12:55.340 so disruptive to their minds and hearts. And then there was a book about a little child, like My

00:13:03.620 Rainbow, I believe it's called, where it was a little boy who was probably in the book about five

00:13:11.340 years old, decided he wanted to be or felt that he was supposed to be a girl and how the whole family

00:13:18.100 embraced this and then ended up making him a rainbow wig and that he was now a girl. And in the

00:13:25.320 book, they talk about how this doesn't, this change does not need to make sense. John Henry,

00:13:31.800 I'd like to have your viewers understand too, it is not just that they're reading these books with

00:13:39.240 this content that is so sensitive and inappropriate for children. It's that there is discussion that goes

00:13:49.340 with it. It was embedded in what's called the language arts class. And this is in my daughter's

00:13:55.980 special needs classroom in her language arts class. So there was discussion that followed,

00:14:01.740 but the teachers and the schools would not let us know what the lesson plan is that goes along even

00:14:08.620 with the book. So it was one thing that this content is so inappropriate and another that they were,

00:14:16.100 the teachers were instructed, and this is in, which Will can, you know, fill you in on,

00:14:21.780 it's in the documents of the case, that the teachers were instructed to advocate for this gender

00:14:30.500 ideology. So it wasn't that they were remaining neutral. It was advocating for this too.

00:14:36.820 So it's full on indoctrination and the parents aren't to have an opt-out. Is that even legal?

00:14:44.500 No, it's not legal. And that's why we're at the U.S. Supreme Court. And it really is extraordinary.

00:14:50.820 Montgomery County had allowed opt-outs to these books initially, just like they allow opt-outs

00:14:56.200 to everything in their curriculum, Halloween parties, Valentine's Day, band class. You can get

00:15:02.780 alternative reading assignments in some cases. And like I said, initially, you could even get

00:15:07.820 opt-outs as to these books. But then as Grace pointed out without any public explanation in March

00:15:13.580 of 2023, the rug was just pulled out from underneath the parents. And going forward, they wouldn't even

00:15:18.940 be told when these books would be read. And as Grace also pointed out, that was for a reason. It's not

00:15:24.820 because the children are just learning literacy, as the board is now trying to tell the Supreme Court are

00:15:30.140 helping with sentence structure, as it's also said in court. What was actually told to the teachers

00:15:36.020 by the board is that the goal of these books is to disrupt a child's either-or thinking on sex and

00:15:41.940 gender. The board said that twice. The goal with these books are to rewrite the norms, as one book

00:15:48.460 says, around sex and gender. It's not just the parents that called this out. The board's own elementary

00:15:54.040 school principals circulated a memo that said, look, if you put these books into the curriculum,

00:16:00.140 you're going to be forcing our teachers to shame children who disagree with the content of the

00:16:06.480 books. You're going to be dismissive of their religious beliefs. You're going to have our

00:16:11.440 teachers state things as facts that many don't believe are facts. And you're going to be cutting

00:16:16.940 out the parents. And nevertheless, the board forged ahead. And the goal really is compelled instruction

00:16:24.440 here. I mean, one of the other directives that's given with a book that's also discussed called

00:16:30.280 Born Ready, the Story of a Boy Named Penelope, is if a child were to raise his or her hand in the class

00:16:37.300 upon reading that book and say, I thought if you're born a boy, you're a boy. And if you're born a girl,

00:16:42.840 you're a girl. The teachers encouraged by the board to respond with those kinds of comments are hurtful,

00:16:47.760 and that we don't say such things. And that when you're born, doctors are just making a guess

00:16:52.960 about who you are, and that nobody really knows for sure. Only you know inside. The idea that this

00:17:00.000 is anything but compelled instruction that's pressuring families to choose between the religious

00:17:05.960 upbringing of their children and foregoing public education is just not accurate. It is the point.

00:17:11.800 The pressure is the point. This is so bizarre that it almost seems unreal. And this is already at the

00:17:21.160 stage of the Supreme Court. How in the world could it get to the Supreme Court? What happened in lower

00:17:25.540 courts? And secondly, who is behind this? Because this seems so crazy. Is there a person aboard? What is

00:17:35.040 this doing this? Yeah, so we are at the U.S. Supreme Court. We got here because unfortunately, for the past

00:17:40.520 50 years, lower courts, like the ones that ruled against the families here below, have generally

00:17:46.360 said that when you drop your kids off at public school, you lose your rights as parents. And the

00:17:51.120 board has played into that in a way that's even more extreme than those holdings. Because what they

00:17:56.640 have done here is they have actually taken material that has long been understood in our country to be

00:18:03.060 something that parents can know about and opt their children out from, which is to say, instruction on

00:18:07.620 anything related to human sexuality and gender identity. 47 out of 50 states have opt out

00:18:12.920 specifically on that area. Montgomery County and Maryland all did until this case. And what they

00:18:18.980 have said is that, well, we can just relabel all that instruction English language arts and get around

00:18:24.520 the national consensus. So this is even more extreme than what is frankly a misinterpretation of what

00:18:32.120 the law has been up to this point. And the law up to this point at the Supreme Court level has always

00:18:37.560 been, as it was for centuries in our tradition, that parents have the right to direct their children's

00:18:43.620 religious upbringing. Because parents are the first teachers, because the family, as your audience

00:18:48.820 knows, is the first society. And so we are going to vindicate the right for parents to get back their

00:18:54.500 notice and opt out rights. That's ultimately what this case is about. We're not challenging the presence of

00:18:59.180 the books in the curriculum. We're not asking the board to adopt a new curriculum. We're simply asking

00:19:04.240 them to restore the rights that they took away from the parents without any public explanation or any good

00:19:09.440 reason. Why do you think the Montgomery County School Board is so obstinate, is so just unbelievably

00:19:18.120 pushing this when it comes to pushing all the kids to be exposed to trans and homosexuality? Do they actually 0.80

00:19:24.500 have an agenda themselves? It's really unfortunate. There have been some very unfortunate

00:19:28.180 statements made in this case where county officials have accused some of our parents,

00:19:34.820 a religiously diverse and racially diverse set of parents, of being in league with white supremacists,

00:19:39.520 or promoting a dehumanizing form of erasure, or saying that parents who don't want kindergarteners

00:19:46.320 to participate in, like the reading of Pride Puppy, for example, they just are trying to teach hate to

00:19:51.260 their small children, as if there could be no other reason why a five-year-old shouldn't learn about

00:19:56.060 lip rings and underwear in kindergarten than hatred. And tellingly itself, Montgomery County has removed

00:20:01.980 Pride Puppy, that book, and My Rainbow from the curriculum over concerns about content. And that's

00:20:08.620 what's been reported, concerns about content, which brings a lie to the idea that this was ever about

00:20:14.020 sentence structure and literacy. This is about, as the board has said, disrupting either or thinking,

00:20:20.560 and that's where you're violating the First Amendment.

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00:20:55.860 Grace, let me go back to you. You explained a little bit about your adopted child and how this

00:21:01.440 came about, but what really put the fire in you? You explained a little bit, the Holy Spirit seemed to

00:21:06.060 touch you. This has become a very personal fight for you. Tell us about that.

00:21:09.780 Yes. I mean, I don't think there was a question for my husband and I to know that

00:21:16.160 there was no way we would let our child be exposed to these materials. She's already

00:21:22.540 has enough challenges in life with being a child with Down syndrome, in addition to just any of the

00:21:31.000 pains of adoption and to then introduce something like this and confuse her. But also just, it's our

00:21:40.160 duty from God and as Catholics to raise our children in the faith, so we're not going to expose her to 0.57

00:21:49.740 anything that would oppose that. So it just was, it was not a question. But we were so fortunate to

00:21:58.020 find out about the work of Beckett Fund, which has been an amazing experience. People so courageous

00:22:05.200 to stand for our rights. And so we just reached out to Beckett Fund, told them about our story and said,

00:22:14.540 if our experience can help move this case along. And we got on board. We actually started a association

00:22:25.280 of parents called Kids First, who are interested in restoring the up-doubt and parental notification.

00:22:34.660 And it is a group of wonderful, beautiful parents of all religious backgrounds who have come together to

00:22:41.780 say, didn't say no to this. So we became, and Bill, Will can correct this, but plaintiffs of the case

00:22:50.640 as well, that a Kids First Association. And so we did get to tell our particular story.

00:22:57.620 What about the outer ramifications of this case? Is this going to be some kind of precedent

00:23:04.180 for America? Or is it just going to be limited to Montgomery County?

00:23:09.520 You know, this will have national implications. And really, and that's because the Supreme Court's

00:23:13.480 deciding it. And if the Supreme Court does, which I think it will continue to uphold the First Amendment

00:23:19.040 and the authority of parents to direct their children's religious upbringing, that's going to

00:23:23.160 bring Montgomery County back in line with the national consensus that I mentioned. There are 47 out of

00:23:29.440 50 states that expressly allow for opt-outs around family life, human sexuality, instruction.

00:23:35.540 And Montgomery County broke with that consensus. It's time to restore the consensus. The court will

00:23:40.760 do that. And if the court does that, that will absolutely, you know, set a good national example.

00:23:46.300 Montgomery County is the most religiously diverse county in the United States of America.

00:23:50.680 It has an opportunity to lead and to follow the best of our traditions as Americans around practical

00:23:56.280 accommodation. And the Supreme Court has stood up for that time. And again, we're confident they will

00:24:01.160 here. Grace, your hopes for seeing this through? I hope that the court will rule in our favor. And I

00:24:09.540 especially have a heart for the families who don't have the ability to bring their children home or put

00:24:17.800 them into private school. These parents and many just even in my parish who just are crying, they just

00:24:25.440 feel like they have no alternatives. So this is especially important for them and important for

00:24:33.540 all of us, important for us as a nation, as human beings. It's just to not have parental rights just

00:24:42.940 run over like, you know, what is happening in our county.

00:24:47.080 Will Hahn from the Beckett Fund, thank you so very much for what you do and for what your organization is

00:24:51.400 doing and helping great parents all around the nation to protect their rights in the United States.

00:24:58.200 Just amazing. Grace, it is an honor for me to speak with you. You've been a hero in the movement for

00:25:04.600 life and family for a long time. And you've got my personal admiration for that and a bit of holy

00:25:10.760 jealousy with all those priestly sons. God bless you. And thank you both for joining us and for your

00:25:16.700 amazing work. Thank you so much. It's great to be with you. And God bless all of you. And we'll see

00:25:21.880 you next time.

00:25:26.840 Aloha, everyone. This is Jason Jones for Lifeside News. We hope you enjoyed this video. For more

00:25:32.380 content like this, check the link in the description. You can also connect with us on social media to stay

00:25:39.220 up to date with the latest news on life, faith, family, and freedom. Thanks for watching and may God bless you.

The John-Henry Westen Show - May 02, 2025

LANDMARK Parental Rights Case Hits SUPREME COURT

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