Joe Pitts: “like millions of parents across the country, we were shocked last week by the ruling of the Ninth Circuit Court of…”

“like millions of parents across the country, we were shocked last week by the ruling of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. This ruling denies parents their right to have a say in the content their children are taught in school. In its decision, the Ninth Circuit said, ``We hold that 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.'' Mr. Speaker, parents, not schools and certainly not the courts, hold the primary responsibility for educating their children, especially when it comes to more sensitive subject matters like sexual, moral, or religious instruction. But the Ninth Circuit, the same court that ruled the phrase ``under God'' in the Pledge of Allegiance to be unconstitutional, would strip parents of this fundamental role in their own children's lives. Last week we addressed an errant court ruling on eminent domain and private property rights. Should this ruling stand, we will need to correct this wayward court yet again. ____________________”