U.S. SUPREME CASES FOR FAMILIES:
1) Individuals have a constitutionally protected interest in
decisions involving the formation of a family, including marriage and
procreation:
2) Parents have a constitutionally protected interest in the
control and raising of their children without state interference.
a) Parham
v. J.R., 422 U.S. 584, 99S. Ct. 2493,
61 L. Ed. 2d 101 (1979) (parent's right to make decisions involving child's
medical treatment)
b) Pierce
v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 45 S. Ct. 571, 69 L. Ed.
1070 (1925) (parent's right to make decisions involving a child's education)
c) Meyer
v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390, 43 S. Ct. 625, 67 L. Ed. 1042
(1923) (liberty guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment includes the right to
establish a home and bring up children)
3) Family members have an interest in being together.
Members of families have a constitutional interest in familial integrity, or
put more plainly, a right not to be forcibly separated.
a) Quilloin
v. Walcott, 434 U.S. 246, 255, 98 S. Ct. 549, 54 L. Ed. 2d
511 (1978) ("We have little doubt that the Due Process Clause would be
offended '[if] a State were to attempt to force the breakup of a natural
family, over the objections of the parents and their children, without some
showing of unfitness and for the sole reason that to do so was thought to be
in the children's best interest,"') (quoting
Smith
v. Organization of Foster Families, 431 U.S. 816, 862-63, 97
S. Ct. 2094, 53 L. Ed. 2d 14 (1977) (Stewart, J., concurring in judgment)).
There are plenty more cases like this - but first I'll be
uploading these cases -as well as Tenenbaum
v. Williams, which is the standard [case] that the State of NY (and
Vermont and Connecticut) must adhere to for all removals by CPS. Santosky
v. Kramer has been uploaded and I will forward the outline for that case
as well. These U.S. Supreme Cases were all used in a recent Victory for
the Second District (New York, Vermont and Connecticut) - Also, there were
over twenty-five cases that were successfully used as Persuasive Argument
(from other Circuits) that are now Binding in the Second District (New York,
Vermont and Connecticut).
Sheryl Lane-McGrath
Orange County, NY
VOCAL NY and Mid-Hudson VOCAL