9th Circuit Rules Parents Cannot Sue School for Subjecting 7-Year Olds to Explicit Sex Survey

Just as we're preparing for the battle to confirm Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, we get this shocking remainder of the need to appoint sane judges to the bench. Out in San Francisco, our friends on the 9th Circuit have ruled a public school can subject 7-year-olds to an explicit sex survey without parental notification or consent.

From the Associated Press:

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A federal appeals court Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit by parents who were outraged that a school district had surveyed their elementary school-age children about sex.

The three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the parents' claim that they have the exclusive right to tell their children about sex.

In upholding a lower court ruling against the parents, Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt said "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.''

This is just nuts. Of course, we must expect nothing less from the judge overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court more than any other judge. In 1997, the Weekly Standard had an article on Judge Reinhardt (appointed in 1980 by Jimmy Carter) that is still quite timely. Click here to read the ruling. While the AP story steers clear of the details of the case, RedState has some truly shocking details that all should know:

The survey asked seven year olds to "rate the following activities" among which were these:

8. Touching my private parts too much
17. Thinking about having sex
22. Thinking about touching other people’s private parts
23. Thinking about sex when I don’t want to
26. Washing myself because I feel dirty on the inside
34. Not trusting people because they might want sex
40. Getting scared or upset when I think about sex
44. Having sex feelings in my body
47. Can't stop thinking about sex
54. Getting upset when people talk about sex

Seven year olds were asked these questions. The parents of the children learned of the survey questions when their children started telling them about the survey. Horrified, the parents complained to the school, arguing that had they know the true nature of the survey, they would have never offered the consent. The school district rebuffed the parents, and the parents sued.