[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] Wednesday upheld a lower court's ruling and dismissed a lawsuit [PDF opinion] brought by parents who were angered by a sex survey given to their students in a California school district. The three-judge panel rejected the parents' contention that they have the exclusive right to inform their children about sex, saying "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." In making its decision, the appeals court considered the rulings of other courts which have upheld mandatory health and sexual education classes and condom distribution programs. The school district discontinued the survey in 2002 after receiving complaints from parents, despite the district's assertion that it was trying to help the first, third and fifth grade students as part of a program to assess early trauma. AP has more; the San Francisco Chronicle has local coverage.