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Supreme Court Case TrackerThe Court, in plain English

Emergency application

Surrogacy and court authority

M. W. v. Superior Court of California, Los Angeles County

Denied
No. 26A325Stay applicationFiled by a private partyPresented to Justice KaganFrom Supreme Court of California

What did the Court do?

The Court denied the request on September 22, 2026: the lower court's ruling stays in effect while the appeal continues.

Emergency rulings are temporary and do not decide the underlying case.

Filed Ruled 13 days after filing

What's being asked

M.W., who is carrying a child under a surrogacy contract, asks the Supreme Court to temporarily pause a California Superior Court judgment. The dispute began when N.G. and O.A. asked a California court to name them as parents of the unborn child M.W. is carrying.

What the Court did

The Court refused emergency help: Justice Kagan denied M.W.'s request for a temporary pause (a stay). The order does not decide who should be recognized as the child's parents. The Court did not publish how the justices voted.

Vote not published · 9the order does not say how they voted
  1. Roberts
  2. Thomas
  3. Alito
  4. Sotomayor
  5. Kagan
  6. Gorsuch
  7. Kavanaugh
  8. Barrett
  9. Jackson
The order does not say how any justice voted, as is usual on the emergency docket.
Half of 76 rulings on applications where the Court asked for a response came 12 to 26 days after filing, and the median was 17 days; this one was ruled on 13 days after filing.

What it means

This emergency ruling does not decide who ultimately should be recognized as the child's parents. The record lists M.W.'s appeal from the judgment as pending in the California Court of Appeal. The docket lists no related Supreme Court case and no argument date.

Sources

Facts on this page come from the Supreme Court docket, orders, and opinions for No. 26A325. The answers restate that record in plain words; explainer copy is written from the record and the filings only.

Checked October 6, 2026