Opinion ID: 741157
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: parents' rights to rear their children.

Text: 77 Examination of the ordinance's burden on the fundamental rights of the minors' parents provides an independent basis for our conclusion that the ordinance, even if construed to avoid vagueness, is nonetheless unconstitutional. It violates the plaintiff parents' substantive due process rights. 78 The right to rear children without undue governmental interference is a fundamental component of due process. See Ginsberg, 390 U.S. at 639, 88 S.Ct. at 1280. Substantive due process under the Fourteenth Amendment forbids the government to infringe certain 'fundamental' liberty interests at all, no matter what process is provided, unless the infringement is narrowly tailored to serve a compelling government interest. Flores, 507 U.S. at 302, 113 S.Ct. at 1447. 79 The custody, care, and nurture of a child reside first in his or her parents. Stanley v. Illinois, 405 U.S. 645, 651, 92 S.Ct. 1208, 1212-13, 31 L.Ed.2d 551 (1972). Parental rights are not absolute, however, and are subject to reasonable regulation. Runyon v. McCrary, 427 U.S. 160, 178, 96 S.Ct. 2586, 2598, 49 L.Ed.2d 415 (1976); Prince, 321 U.S. at 166, 64 S.Ct. at 442 (Acting to guard the general interest in youth's well being, the state as parens patriae may restrict the parent's control by requiring school attendance, regulating or prohibiting the child's labor, or in many other ways.). The City's interest in the health, safety, and welfare of minors is compelling, as analyzed above. 80 The district court held that the City's legitimate interests greatly outweighed the limited burden on parental autonomy. The City defends this holding on the grounds that it is a minimal burden to prevent parents only from allowing unsupervised children in public places at night. We disagree. The broad sweep of the ordinance, and the paucity of exceptions to allow unsupervised nocturnal activity, burden the parents just as they do the minors. 81 The curfew is, quite simply, an exercise of sweeping state control irrespective of parents' wishes. Without proper justification, it violates upon the fundamental right to rear children without undue interference. See Hodgson v. Minnesota, 497 U.S. 417, 446-47, 110 S.Ct. 2926, 2943, 111 L.Ed.2d 344 (1990) (The statist notion that governmental power should supersede parental authority in all cases because some parents abuse and neglect children is repugnant to the American tradition.). The ordinance is not a permissible supportive law, but rather an undue, adverse interference by the state. Cf. Bellotti, 443 U.S. at 638-39 & n. 18, 99 S.Ct. at 3045-46 & n. 18 (finding requirement for parental consultation before abortion is constitutional because, inter alia, it supports parents). The ordinance does not allow an adult to pre-approve even a specific activity after curfew hours unless a custodial adult actually accompanies the minor. Thus, parents cannot allow their children to function independently at night, which some parents may believe is part of the process of growing up. Cf. Qutb, 11 F.3d at 496 (stating that the broad exemptions in that ordinance, not present in the San Diego ordinance, allow the parents to make decisions for his or her child in many areas). Accordingly, we find the ordinance to be an unconstitutional burden on parents' fundamental rights.