Opinion ID: 2179872
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Constitutionality of the Sufficient Existing Relationship Provision

Text: [¶ 18] We begin our analysis by recognizing that parents have a fundamental liberty interest to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their children. Troxel, 530 U.S. at ___, 120 S.Ct. at 2060 (citations omitted). In other words, the right to direct and control a child's upbringing is a fundamental liberty interest protected by the Due Process Clause. Id. We understand this fundamental right to be firmly established. [12] Accordingly, so long as a parent adequately cares for his or her children (i.e., is fit), there will normally be no reason for the State to inject itself into the private realm of the family to further question the ability of that parent to make the best decisions concerning the rearing of that parent's children. Id. 530 U.S. at ___, 120 S.Ct. at 2061 (citing Reno v. Flores, 507 U.S. 292, 304, 113 S.Ct. 1439, 123 L.Ed.2d 1 (1993)) (emphasis added). [¶ 19] The constitutional liberty interest in family integrity is not, however, absolute, nor forever free from state interference. Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205, 233-34, 92 S.Ct. 1526, 32 L.Ed.2d 15 (1972); McNicholas v. Bickford, 612 A.2d 866, 870 (Me.1992). The Due Process Clause is not an impenetrable wall behind which parents may shield their children; rather, it provides heightened protection against state intervention in parents' fundamental right to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their children. See Parham v. J.R., 442 U.S. 584, 603-05, 99 S.Ct. 2493, 61 L.Ed.2d 101 (1979). That heightened protection mandates strict scrutiny of the statute at issue. See Washington v. Glucksberg, 521 U.S. 702, 720-21, 117 S.Ct. 2258, 138 L.Ed.2d 772 (1997); Sch. Admin. Dist. No. 1 v. Comm'r, Dep't of Educ., 659 A.2d 854, 857 (Me.1995). Strict scrutiny requires that the State's action be narrowly tailored to serve a compelling state interest. Flores, 507 U.S. at 301-02, 113 S.Ct. 1439; Butler v. Supreme Judicial Court, 611 A.2d 987, 992 (Me.1992). [¶ 20] Therefore, because a fundamental liberty interest is unquestionably at stake here, we must determine first, whether that fundamental liberty interest is interfered with, by the State, in the context of the Grandparents Visitation Act. If so, we apply strict scrutiny to the portions of the Act before us to determine whether the State has narrowly tailored its involvement in the family to serve a compelling state interest.