Sharon Hughes
November 4, 2005
Court gone mad!
9th Circuit Court rules against parents
By Sharon Hughes

The new ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stating, "There is no fundamental right of parents to be the exclusive provider of information regarding sexual matters to their children...Parents have no due process or privacy right to override the determinations of public schools as to the information to which their children will be exposed while enrolled as students," has Californians in an uproar, and rightfully so!

The liberal ninth district court known for it's legislating from the bench, such as in the recent case where the court ruled the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional because it contains the words 'under God,' dismissed a lawsuit by California parents on November 3, 2005 who were sued the school district because a sex survey with inappropriate, nosey questions was given to children in the first, third and fifth grades. The survey was administered by the Palmdale School District and asked students questions such as if they ever thought about having sex or touching other people's "private parts" and whether they could "stop thinking about having sex. Other questions in the survey involved:

Touching my private parts too much

Washing myself because I feel dirty on the inside

Not trusting people because they might want sex

Getting scared or upset when I think about sex

Having sex feelings in my body

Can't stop thinking about sex

Getting upset when people talk about sex

The parents argued that they have the sole right "to control the upbringing of their children by introducing them to matters of and relating to sex." But the three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit dismissed their case with Judge Stephen Reinhardt writing for the panel, "no such specific right can be found in the deep roots of the nation's history and tradition or implied in the concept of ordered liberty."

Can you believe this? It is absolutely outrageous! And if that weren't enough...The superintendent of the California school district involved in the 9th Circuit Court ruling questioned the motives of the parents involved in the case.

The same day House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi sided with the ninth court opposing a Republican plan to split the liberal, San Francisco-based court in two. The Democrats are not happy that this made it's way into a must-pass House budget reconciliation bill.

This is no small matter. Just because their rulings are so over the top doesn't mean they won't set precedence that could make it harder and harder for pro-family Americans to win cases involving other constitutional laws and violations. The Ninth Circuit is the largest of all the U.S. circuit courts covering nine states.

This only highlights the importance of what kind of judges sit on the highest court in the land, the Supreme Court.

© Sharon Hughes

Comments feature added August 14, 2011
 

The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)

Click to enlarge

Sharon Hughes

Sharon Hughes is Founder and President of The Center for Changing Worldviews and the host of Changing Worldviews & WOMANTalk radio on KDIA in San Francisco, NPLR and online at Salem Web Network’s Oneplace.com. Her articles appear in many recognized news sites and publications, including FRONTPAGEMAG. She also blogs for NewsBusters.org, a division of The Media Research Center, and has appeared on FOX News and other national radio programs.

Subscribe

Receive future articles by Sharon Hughes: Click here

Latest articles

 

Henry Lamb
Occupiers or tea partiers?

Alan Caruba
America's green enemies

Jen Shroder
One Million Moms, Ellen DeGeneres, the gay manifesto and Prop 8

Lloyd Marcus
America desperately needs a hero: but who?

J. Matt Barber
Obama's anti-religious implosion

Curtis Dahlgren
GOWN VS. TOWN: Has science ever been totally apolitical?

Larry Klayman
Smart phones and social media: Destructive

Michael Oberndorf
Revelations
  More columns

Cartoons


Michael Ramirez

DaleToons

RSS feeds

News:
Columns:

Columnists

Matt C. Abbott
Chris Adamo
Russ J. Alan
Bonnie Alba
Chuck Baldwin
J. Matt Barber
Kelly Bartlett
Michael M. Bates
. . .
[See more]
Nicole George
 

Sister sites