Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeWaters
Fortunately you have said one thing that is good:
Just yesterday there was a lawyer here crowing about how no one woudl be able to demonstrate ANY lack of due process.
QED.
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I haven't followed this story as closely as the rest of you but it appears the ACLU is performing its important function and due process will sooner or later take place. "What process is due?" is a famous catch-phrase in the law, and a question that is not easily answered, particularly when children's interests are involved. Courts conclude "due prcess" satisfying Constitutional requirements has been afforded in myriad contexts involving government deprivation of liberty or property interests where the proceedings have been far less rigorous than a jury trial. As I say, the ACLU has an important historic function and I have tons of admiration for them. God bless the ACLU. But what the ACLU says is advocacy, and should not be accepted as Gospel.
This isn't my field, but I do know that in terms of "due process" and allied concerns the parents' interests are always subordinate to the best interests of the child. This is often the hardest part for divorcing spouses who want to wage a scorched earth fight over custody to realize. The court doesn't care who has lied or committed adultery, etc. The question is "what's best for the child?" I'd probably have to recuse myself from these proceedings because my strong bias would be to rule all these kids would be better off with new parents whether they've been abused or not.