Opinion ID: 2630104
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 14

Heading: Standing to Assert a Parental Liberty Interest

Text: Doe also argues that the curfew statute is unconstitutional because it infringes on parents' liberty interest in directing the upbringing of their children. [11] However, Doe's challenge, based on his parents' liberty interest in controlling his upbringing, must be dismissed for lack of standing. Standing is an issue over which this court exercises free review. Citibank (South Dakota), N.A. v. Carroll, 148 Idaho 254, 257, 220 P.3d 1073, 1076 (2009). The issue of whether a party has standing to assert a particular claim should be resolved before the merits of the claim are reached. Id. at 259, 220 P.3d at 1078. Courts must hesitate before resolving the rights of those not parties to litigation. Singleton v. Wulff, 428 U.S. 106, 113, 96 S.Ct. 2868, 2873-74, 49 L.Ed.2d 826, 832-33 (1976). Even though a potentially illegal action may affect the litigant as well as a third party, the litigant may not rest his claims on the rights or legal interests of the third party. Dep't of Labor v. Triplett, 494 U.S. 715, 720, 110 S.Ct. 1428, 1431-32, 108 L.Ed.2d 701, 713 (1990). A party challenging the constitutionality of a statute must not only demonstrate some injury from the unconstitutional aspect of the statute, but also that he is in the class of persons protected by that constitutional interest. Heald v. Dist. of Columbia, 259 U.S. 114, 123, 42 S.Ct. 434, 435, 66 L.Ed. 852, 854-55 (1922). This requirement is based on the presumption that the third parties themselves are the best proponents of their own rights. Singleton, 428 U.S. at 113-14, 96 S.Ct. at 2873-74, 49 L.Ed.2d at 832-33. As a result, the U.S. Supreme Court requires a litigant who seeks to assert the rights of another party to demonstrate three interrelated criteria: (1) he must have suffered injury in fact, providing a significantly concrete interest in the outcome of the matter in dispute; (2) he must have a sufficiently close relationship to the party whose rights he is asserting; and (3) there must be a demonstrated bar to the third parties' ability to protect their interests. Powers v. Ohio, 499 U.S. 400, 411, 111 S.Ct. 1364, 1370-71, 113 L.Ed.2d 411, 425-26 (1991). While these factors have never been applied by a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court to a child's attempt to assert his living parents' interests, [12] they were applied by Justice O'Connor in her concurrence in Miller v. Albright. 523 U.S. 420, 445-52, 118 S.Ct. 1428, 1442-46, 140 L.Ed.2d 575, 596-601 (1998) (O'Connor, J., concurring). In Miller, the Court considered a constitutional challenge to a statute governing the citizenship of nonmarital children born outside of the United States. Id. at 424, 118 S.Ct. at 1432, 140 L.Ed.2d at 583-84 (majority opinion). One basis for the challenge was that the statute violated Miller's father's right to equal protection of the law. Id. Justice O'Connor, concurring in the Court's finding that the challenge was without merit, engaged in an extensive discussion of a child's right to assert the rights of her parent when there was no bar to the parent's involvement in the case at bar or a similar suit. Id. at 445-52, 118 S.Ct. at 1442-46, 140 L.Ed.2d at 596-601 (O'Connor, J., concurring). O'Connor applied the Powers test to Miller, finding that she met the interest prong because she was denied citizenship under the statute. Id. at 447, 118 S.Ct. at 1443, 140 L.Ed.2d at 597-98. O'Connor also found that Miller met the relationship prong, based on the parent-child relationship. Id. However, O'Connor found that Miller lacked third-party standing because she failed to demonstrate any bar to her father's ability to assert his own rights. Id. at 448, 118 S.Ct. at 1443-44, 140 L.Ed.2d at 598. Much the same issue is presented in this case. While Doe obviously has an interest in the Ordinance being declared unconstitutional because he will avoid criminal sanctions and has a close relationship with his father, he has failed to demonstrate any bar to his father's ability to challenge the constitutionality of the Ordinance. As a result, Doe has failed the Powers test and, under the O'Connor rationale from Miller and Powers, cannot assert a deprivation of parental liberty interests in this matter.