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Supreme Court devastates State presumptive custody laws / Retreat Info.
From: Webmaster (webmaster@akidsright.org)
This is a message from a mailing list, members@kids-right.org http://www.kids-right.org/ To unsubscribe from this list at anytime, send email to Majordomo@kids-right.org with the following 1 line in the BODY of the message (Subject is ignored). unsubscribe members ====================================================================== Good People, This message contains: 1) Supreme Court Ruling - devastating to state reform. 2) Retreat Invitation - spend a few days in prayer. 1) Supreme Court Ruling - devastating to state reform. ------------------------------------------------------ August 17, 2001 (Washington, D.C.) - In what court watchers describe as a surprisingly wide ruling, the Supreme Court today released a very late decision in the case of Jackson v. Jackson. It originated with a child custody dispute in Kansas, a State which has a "presumption of joint custody" law recently passed by the legislature. In a 10-2 decision, with only Justices Scalia and Kennedy dissenting -- the Court struck down any State's ability to legislate such a presumption. In a lengthy decision the Court explained that at the time of the writing of the Constitution, divorce issues were primarily handled by eccesiastical (church) courts. The founding Fathers never demonstrated a desire to transfer such power to the State or Federal government -- presumingly leaving it with the new judiciary branch. Writing for the majority, Justice O'Connor made it clear, "States may not place undue constraints on the decision making ability of the Judge in such matters. We must all recognize that the 'best interest of the child' is paramount in such matters and the presiding Judge must be free to make the best decision with whatever facts are at hand." -------------- NOTE - Like our recent message regarding a finding on custody by the American Medical Association, http://www.AKidsRight.Org/archive/archive2001 this "court ruling" represents a definitive legal message. What would your response be if this happened? Many of us our working for reform at the state level, others are looking for a court decision to change the system. While these are both potentially quick solutions -- at a basic and philosophical level, do they do justice to your "right" to be a parent? A little history: Many people don't know that slavery was actually practiced in almost all the thirteen original colonies, but much less in the North than in the South. After independence the Northern State legislatures passed laws prohibiting any "more" slavery, i.e. by setting a definite end date for existing slaves, or by saying no more people could be put in slavery -- a guarantee that it would stop in the future. It worked in the North as a pramatic solution -- but does a State legislature really have the authority to put a person into slavery? We would now certainly say NO, freedom in an inherit right. It is not a "privilege" granted by government. While the analogy is not complete, it is something for all of us to think about. 2) Retreat Invitation - spend a few days with yourself. ------------------------------------------------------ We'd like to extend an invitation to join one of our coordinators, John Murtari, on a brief retreat during the last weekend in September, the 28-30th, at the Mt. Saviour Monastery near Elmira, NY. (http://www.msaviour.org/). This is open to people, both individuals and couples, of any (and no) faith. For more details and to register see: http://www.AKidsRight.Org/actionb_syr/retreat.htm ================================================================== To unsubscribe from this list at anytime, send email to Majordomo@kids-right.org with the following 1 line in the BODY of the message (Subject is ignored). unsubscribe members
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