A US state appellate court has ruled that child welfare officials had no right to seize more than 400 children living at a polygamist sect's ranch in Texas.
The Third Court of Appeals in Austin ruled that the grounds for removing the children were "legally and factually insufficient" under Texas law. They did not immediately order the return of the children.
Child welfare officials removed the children on the grounds that the sect pushed underage girls into marriage and sex and trained boys to become future perpetrators.
The appellate court ruled the chaotic hearing held last month did not demonstrate the children were in any immediate danger, the only measure of taking children from their homes without court proceedings.
While the opinion covers the children of only 48 mothers, a lawyer told reporters that the ruling will likely apply to all of the children, who are in foster homes across the state.
"Essentially, this decision from the third court of appeals said that child protective services had absolutely no evidence that would justify them going in there and removing these children from this household," said Cynthia Martinez, who represents 48 mothers whose children were removed.
The appeals court opinion gives a lower court, who initially approved the state's actions, 10 days to act.
The compound was run by followers of jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs who belongs to a Mormon sect known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.