Posted by Howard Richman on April 27 2008 at 11:08:06:
In Reply to: Re: Vox Day: "Kidnapped by Government" posted by Sharon on April 25 2008 at 20:55:36:
A commentary by Michelle Roberts argues that that the kidnapping of FLDS kids by TX authorities may have been illegal. Here´s a selection:
"Of course, we condemn child abuse and we don´t stand up for the perpetration of that," said Lisa Graybill, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas. But "what the state has done has offended a pretty wide swath of the American people with what appears to be an overreaching action to sweep up all these children."...HowardState officials searched for a week for evidence of sexual abuse and rounded up all the children into mass shelters. As of Friday, the children had all been bused to foster group homes hundreds of miles away; only nursing infants still have their mothers with them.
Texas law has a "very low burden for removal of children from a parent´s home, at least temporarily," Dixon said.
But state authorities are supposed to keep the children in their homes unless "a person of ordinary prudence and caution" believes there´s a continuing and immediate danger to their safety....
CPS officials have conceded there is no evidence the youngest children were abused, and about 130 of the children are under 5. Teenage boys were not physically or sexually abused either, according to evidence presented in a custody hearing earlier last week, but more than two dozen teenage boys are also in state custody, now staying at a boys´ ranch that might typically house troubled or abandoned teens....
Constitutional experts say U.S. courts have consistently held that a parent´s beliefs alone are not grounds for removal.
"The general view of the legal system is until there is an imminent risk of harm or actual harm, you can´t do that," said UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh.