Ninth Circuit Allows Jewish Parents' Lawsuit Over LA Curriculum to Be Refiled

Jewish parents and teachers in Los Angeles filed a civil-rights lawsuit alleging that a model ethnic-studies curriculum, championed by the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium, spreads anti-Zionist and antisemitic content in LAUSD classrooms. The district court threw out the case, saying the plaintiffs had not shown direct exposure or concrete injury. On appeal, Judges Kenneth Kiyul Lee, Patrick Bumatay, and Jennifer Sung held that the plaintiffs could amend their complaint to address standing deficiencies and noted that the lower court should not have ruled on the merits or imposed attorney-fee sanctions under California’s anti-SLAPP law. The appellate decision revives the lawsuit, allowing the plaintiffs to detail any alleged antisemitic incidents linked to the curriculum’s use.