Court Opinion

ID: 9668898
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 02:31:01.232395+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:49.708869
License: Public Domain

COVINGTON, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. The majority opinion’s holding rests in actuality upon a trial court’s discretion, rather than upon traditional principles of constitutional analysis. Under the majority’s reasoning, the amount of visitation awarded by the trial court dictates whether or not the statute is constitutional. This is not a rule by which this Court should order its decisional process on questions of constitutionality.
As the majority concedes, autonomy m family decision making with respect to child rearing is one of the fundamental liberty interests protected by the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment. Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 534-35, 45 S.Ct. 571, 573-74, 69 L.Ed. 1070 (1925); Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390, 399, 43 S.Ct. 625, 626, 67 L.Ed. 1042 (1923). Traditionally, governmental intrusions on a fundamental liberty interest have been reviewed with strict scrutiny to determine whether the governmental intrusion is constitutional. See Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 155, 93 S.Ct. 705, 727-28, 35 L.Ed.2d 147 (1973); see also Aptheker v. Secretary of State, 378 U.S. 500, 508-09, 84 S.Ct. 1659, 1664-65, 12 L.Ed.2d 992 (1964). At least one case not within the context of reproductive rights has applied a strict or “heightened” scrutiny test in analyzing state intrusions into family autonomy. Moore v. City of East Cleveland, 431 U.S. 494, 499-502, 97 S.Ct. 1932, 1935-37, 52 L.Ed.2d 531 (1977). To pass strict scrutiny review, a governmental intrusion must be justified by a “compelling state interest” and must be narrowly drawn to express the compelling state interest at stake. Roe, 410 U.S. at 155, 93 S.Ct. at 727-28.
Section 452.402.2, RSMo Supp.1992, allows the trial court to order visitation when it is in the “best interests” of the child. The trial court may award visitation not only in cases where the evidence would require a finding that grandparent visitation was necessary to prevent harm from occurring to the grandchild, but also when the trial court finds that such visitation is beneficial to the child. A best interest test standing alone does not justify intrusion into the parents’ constitutionally protected right of autonomy in child rearing. Generally, some showing of harm to the child is required. See Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158, 166, 64 S.Ct. 438, 442, 88 L.Ed. 645 (1944); see also Morrison v. State, 252 S.W.2d 97, 100 (Mo.App.1952). Under strict scrutiny review, § 452.402.2 is highly suspect.
The majority opinion avoids strict scrutiny by its application of the “undue burden” *212test articulated in the plurality decision of Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, — U.S. -, -, 112 S.Ct. 2791, 2820-21, 120 L.Ed.2d 674 (1992). Under this test, initially articulated by Justice O’Connor in Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health, 462 U.S. 416, 461-63, 103 S.Ct. 2481, 2508-10, 76 L.Ed.2d 687 (1983) (O’Connor, J., dissenting), overruled by Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, — U.S. -, -, 112 S.Ct. 2791, 2823, 120 L.Ed.2d 674 (1992), the state’s intrusion into the fundamental liberty interest must “infringe substantially” or “heavily burden” that liberty interest before the strict scrutiny test will be applied. Akron, 462 U.S. at 461-63, 103 S.Ct. at 2508-10. In essence the majority holds that forcing an intact family to allow grandparents to visit the grandchild is an insignificant encroachment on family autonomy because § 452.402.2 contemplates only occasional, temporary visitation by a grandparent if it is in the best interests of the child.
Assuming that the “undue burden” test is the proper standard of review when the government intrudes into protected rights, the intrusion in the present case is far from insignificant. Allowing the government to force upon an unwilling family a third party, even when the third party happens to be a grandparent, is a significant intrusion into the integral family unit. The principal opinion acknowledges the significance of the intrusion by noting that “if the statute allowed a great amount of visitation we would be more likely to find an undue burden on the family and hold that these subsections are unconstitutional.” Maj. at 210.
A rule to determine constitutionality that is grounded in a reviewing court’s finding a proper exercise of trial court discretion is neither principled in the context of analysis of a constitutional challenge, nor is it workable. A statute is either constitutional, or it is not. Section 452.402.2 intrudes upon the parents’ fundamental liberty interest in family autonomy in child rearing. The statute does so in a broad fashion, providing only a best interests test. It is without cavil that most children benefit from a relationship with grandparents. Before a family decision with respect to child rearing is intruded upon, however, the legislature should, at a minimum, require a showing of harm to the child in the absence of visitation. For today, however, it is unnecessary further to argue that § 452.402.2 is not sufficiently narrowly drawn to express any compelling state interest that might arguably be at stake. It is enough simply to make clear that the majority opinion is insupportable in terms of traditional principles of constitutional analysis.