Fields

In light of Appellants’ petition for rehearing en banc and the amici brief in support thereof, the panel has decided to consider whether to rehear the matter nostra sponte. We have unanimously determined not to do so and hereby reaffirm our decision filed on November 2, 2005. We set forth our reasons below.

Appellants are parents of schoolchildren in the Palmdale School District. Their complaint in the district court alleged, inter alia, that the school district violated their fundamental right “to control the upbringing of their children by introducing them to matters of and relating to sex in accordance with their personal and religious values and beliefs” by administering a psychological assessment questionnaire containing several questions that referred to subjects of a sexual nature. The district court construed this claim as arising under the Substantive Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), dismissed that cause of action for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. Fields v. Palmdale Sch. Dist., 271 F.Supp.2d 1217, 1220-23 (C.D.Cal.2003). The parents appealed the ruling but only on the…