Standing up to the Abuse of Power–
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Video Transcript
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okay today is day 9 and we are wrapping
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up the 14th amendment we dealt with the
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new process pulse last time and this
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time we're wrapping up with the equal
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protection clause the two most powerful
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things we have in our arsenal and so
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this is the Fourteenth Amendment part
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two so very quickly we're going to walk
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through the outline you've already seen
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this outline in the last class and I'm
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going to show you where we're you know
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today and where we're completing it
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so we dealt with the due process clause
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and that's why you see that line now the
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next thing is the equal protection
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clause the part of that section one of
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the Fourteenth Amendment and remember
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the other sections of the Fourteenth
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Amendment no longer apply because
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they've dealt with individuals being
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prohibited from certain things because
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they served in the Confederacy and all
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of those people are long since passed
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away so we're only dealing with section
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1 so we're going to talk about equal
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protection what means where it comes
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from how it applies we're going to
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clarify again that it applies to all
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persons not just citizens we're going to
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talk about how equal protection is under
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mental to the concept of freedom it's
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one of the fundamental principles of how
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we in the course ensure freedom and the
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concept existed long before the 14th
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amendment was ratified and it's
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something that the federal courts have
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sought to implement long before the
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Fourteenth Amendment but the Fourteenth
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Amendment applies that concept
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specifically to the states so they have
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to comply with it as well it deals with
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classifications or how we group people
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and treat those groups differently than
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other groups and this is a legitimate
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function of government we have to be
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able to categorize people and provide
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benefits or hotel certain activities
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with certain groups there are criminal
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groups there are law-abiding groups for
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instance we have to be able to treat
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people who are within that curve
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group differently than we do people who
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are within the law-abiding group so that
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in many cases is a natural normal and
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perfectly acceptable classification but
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there are other classifications they're
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not and we'll talk about this term
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invidious and what it means and how the
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court uses it you'll see it all the time
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in equal protection cases we'll
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understand how the court has said that
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the rights must be the same for meri pet
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for married and unmarried alike and
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basically what they're saying is the
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classification of marital status cannot
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be used to discriminate against people
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in many many situations and so we're
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going to we're going to suggest based on
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what the supreme court has we paint very
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clearly said and that is that fit
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parents are the only applicable or
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acceptable class when it comes to equal
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protection of parental rights we're
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going to show how your criminal rights
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are not tied to the marriage now 100
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years or more ago it was a very common
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concept that rights to be a parent were
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directly tied to the marriage and we had
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things called bastardy laws that
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prohibited children and parents from
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having rights to one another yes they
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were the children who were conceived out
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of wedlock those ideas have changed and
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we'll show you how and why and make the
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clear argument that your parental rights
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cannot be connected to your marriage
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therefore dissolving your marriage
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cannot be the basis for depriving you of
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those rights we'll talk about Stanley
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versus Illinois it's another cases that
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get into how the treatment the courts
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are required to treat single parents the
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same as married parents so they can't
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discriminate against single parents and
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that means your rights are yours
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individually each parent has those
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rights individually they don't belong to
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the marriage and we'll talk about the
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bastardy laws and how those were
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overturned by the United States Supreme
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Court that's what we're going to do
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first is we are going to practice when a
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judge
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is keeping your child from you okay okay
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okay I checked your honor to the court's
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jurisdiction to issue orders in
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violation of the Fourth and Fifth
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Amendment I have a right to privacy and
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this disorder constitutes A's
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unwarranted search into my private
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business
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the court has failed to meet the
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constitutional requirements to order a
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search further in this order constitutes
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an illegal seizure of my person it
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forces me to be restrained in a certain
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place I objected that further because
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the court is seeking to punish me with
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deprivation of a fundamental liberty
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interest the court invokes Fifth
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Amendment criminal protections and I
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assert my Fifth Amendment right not to
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be compelled to testify and not to have
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that fundamental liberty interest in any
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way objection your honor objection your
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honor
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assert objection asserting that I have
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something to hide as a violation of my
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constitutional right I wish to have he
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stricken from the record your honor my
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only love definitely your honor this is
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not about what's in the best interest to
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decide what is in the best interest of
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the children and we have privacy rights
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as an individual that is free from
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government interference and our private
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lives we have it as adults our children
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have it Anaya sir on my behalf and my
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child's to have the action your honor
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argumentative and flama Torrey you
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cannot sit here in violation of the
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Fifth Amendment and tell me I have a
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problem for asserting my acosta see
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right and my child at this point done
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just go at the attorney the other
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attorney
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ha I'm not going to let you the parent
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keep talking so the judges go to the
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attorney and say please proceed with
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what we're here for today
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Your Honor I would like to file the
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recognition error on the field in
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violation of my Fourth Amendment rights
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my child's Fourth Amendment rights is
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constitutes a and unwarranted either of
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my child the farmer I've already ruled
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on this I understand that you test
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records that lets you reject your
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objection I also have overruled your
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objections I believe that we have the
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authority according to statute you know
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if not showing me you can have anything
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for me to consider not following statute
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your honor life objecting that you have
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not met the constitutional bar to
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intervene statute alone is not
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sufficient to provide the court
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jurisdiction to act versus dragonboat
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tells us that the court must have a
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finding of fact on the record that
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provides some basis for the courts
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action and that that basis must include
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a balancing test of all of their rights
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involved and so there they must apply
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these standards even if it costs more or
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if it's more burdensome 1/4 so they
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cannot say that hey we kneel with
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thousands of these divorce cases we
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can't possibly apply this level of
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scrutiny to everyone
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well they don't get to say that they
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must apply the proper levels of scrutiny
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if they're going to going through the
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proper rights and you are learning how
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to hold them accountable
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to that