Opinion ID: 2331541
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Heading Rank: 5

Heading: the fundamental rights of a parent

Text: The proper starting point for legal analysis when the State involves itself in family relations is the fundamental constitutional rights of a parent. Certain fundamental rights are protected under the U.S. Constitution, and among those rights are a parent's Fourteenth Amendment [6] liberty interest in raising his or her children as he or she sees fit, without undue interference by the State. The rights and protections afforded a parent, as recognized by the United States Supreme Court, were gathered recently in the well researched opinion of Wolinski v. Browneller, 115 Md. App. 285, 693 A.2d 30 (1997), from which we shall quote at length. Beginning with Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390, 43 S.Ct. 625, 67 L.Ed. 1042 (1923) and Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 45 S.Ct. 571, 69 L.Ed. 1070 (1925), the Supreme Court, in a variety of contexts, has recognized that freedom of personal choice in matters of marriage, family life, and the upbringing of children is a liberty interest protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. See M.L.B v. S.L.J., U.S. LEXIS, [519 U.S. 102] 117 S.Ct. 555, 136 L.Ed.2d 473 (Dec. 16, 1996) (termination of parental rights); Santosky v. Kramer, 455 U.S. 745, 102 S.Ct. 1388, 71 L.Ed.2d 599 (1982) (same); Parham v. J.R., 442 U.S. 584, 99 S.Ct. 2493, 61 L.Ed.2d 101 (1979) (right to care for mental health of child); Moore v. City of East Cleveland, 431 U.S. 494, 97 S.Ct. 1932, 52 L.Ed.2d 531 (1977) (right of extended family to live together); Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205, 92 S.Ct. 1526, 32 L.Ed.2d 15 (1972) (right to direct children's education, coupled with right to freedom of religion); Stanley v. Illinois, 405 U.S. 645, 92 S.Ct. 1208, 31 L.Ed.2d 551 (1972) (right to raise children); Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158, 64 S.Ct. 438, 88 L.Ed. 645 (1944) (right to allow child to work); Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 45 S.Ct. 571, 69 L.Ed. 1070 (1925) (right to direct upbringing and education of children); Meyer, 262 U.S. 390, 399, 43 S.Ct. 625, 67 L.Ed. 1042 (announcing the liberty interest to engage in any of the common occupations of life, to acquire useful knowledge, to marry, establish a home, and bring up children). Within the narrower context of the parent-child relationship, the Supreme Court has deemed the right to rear a child essential, id., and encompassed within a parent's basic civil rights. Skinner v. Oklahoma, 316 U.S. 535, 541, 62 S.Ct. 1110, 86 L.Ed. 1655 (1942). Maryland has consistently echoed the Supreme Court, declaring a parent's liberty interest in raising a child a fundamental one that cannot be taken away unless clearly justified. In re Adoption/Guardianship No. 10941, 335 Md. 99, 112, 642 A.2d 201 (1994); In re Adoption/Guardianship Nos. CAA92-10852 & CAA92-10853, 103 Md.App. 1, 12, 651 A.2d 891 (1994) (This right is in the nature of a liberty interest that has long been recognized and protected under the state and federal constitutions.). In In re Adoption/Guardianship No. 10941, the Court of Appeals quoted with approval from Justice Blackmun's dissent in Lassiter v. Department of Social Servs., 452 U.S. 18, 101 S.Ct. 2153, 68 L.Ed.2d 640 (1981): At stake here is the interest of a parent in the companionship, care, custody, and management of his or her children. This interest occupies a unique place in our legal culture, given the centrality of family life as the focus for personal meaning and responsibility. [Far] more precious... than property rights, parental rights have been deemed to be among those essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men .... Id. at 38[, 101 S.Ct. 2153] (citations omitted), quoted in In re Adoption/Guardianship No. 10941, 335 Md. at 113[, 642 A.2d 201]. See also In re Adoption/Guardianship No. 93321055/CAD, 344 Md. 458, 491, 687 A.2d 681 (1997); In re: Matthew R., 113 Md.App. 701, 721, 688 A.2d 955 (1997); Coffey v. Dep't of Social Servs., 41 Md.App. 340, 357, 397 A.2d 233 (1979). 115 Md.App. at 298-99, 693 A.2d at 36 (some internal citations omitted). We recently reiterated the importance of these constitutional protections of parental interests in In re Adoption/Guardianship Nos. J9610436 and J9711031, 368 Md. 666, 796 A.2d 778 (2002), where we pointed out that: Most recently, in In re Mark M., 365 Md. 687, 705, 782 A.2d 332, 342-43 (2001), this Court reiterated the notion of parenting as a fundamental right: A parent's interest in raising a child is, no doubt, a fundamental right, recognized by the United States Supreme Court and this Court. The United States Supreme Court has long avowed the basic civil right encompassed by child rearing and family life. See Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57, 66, 120 S.Ct. 2054, 2060, 147 L.Ed.2d 49, 57 (2000) (stating that `the Fourteenth Amendment protects the fundamental right of parents to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their children'); See also Santosky v. Kramer, 455 U.S. 745, 753, 102 S.Ct. 1388, 1394-95, 71 L.Ed.2d 599, 606 (1982) (discussing `the fundamental liberty interest of natural parents in the care, custody, and management of their child'); Stanley v. Illinois, 405 U.S. 645, 651, 92 S.Ct. 1208, 1212-13, 31 L.Ed.2d 551, 558-59 (1972) (stating that `the rights to conceive and to raise one's children have been deemed essential,' and that `the integrity of the family unit has found protection in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment ... the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment... and the Ninth Amendment ... (internal citations omitted)). Maryland, too, has declared a parent's interest in raising a child to be so fundamental that it `cannot be taken away unless clearly justified.' Boswell v. Boswell, 352 Md. 204, 218, 721 A.2d 662, 669 (1998) (citing In re Adoption[/Guardianship] No. 10941, 335 Md. 99, 112, 642 A.2d 201 (1994)). 368 Md. at 671, 796 A.2d at 780-81; see also Shurupoff v. Vockroth, 372 Md. 639, 649-50, 814 A.2d 543, 550 (2003). [7] B.