How to Fight for Your Rights Part 1

0:01 Your Honor the other side would have you 0:04 believe that when two parents aren't 0:05 getting along the their rights are up to 0:07 this court counselor I am going to let 0:09 you make your argument but please be 0:11 brief the other side is asking this 0:14 court to infringe the fundamental rights 0:16 of this man and his children it is 0:18 absolutely clear that the state may not 0:20 deprive a fit married parent of their 0:22 rights to their children in this manner 0:25 dot and it is equally clear that the 0:27 state may not deprive this father or his 0:30 children of these fundamental rights 0:32 based on his marital status either 0:34 that means divorce cannot be the 0:36 justification for doing so therefore we 0:40 are asking this court to establish its 0:42 constitutional justification for 0:44 classifying this parent as a fit parent 0:46 whose rights may be denied in this way 0:48 we assert that since fundamental rights 0:50 are at issue here that this court 0:52 understands that the Equal Protection 0:53 Clause from the Fourteenth Amendment 0:55 applies this means that strict scrutiny 0:59 applies and the state must show us 1:01 constitutional authority to act under 1:04 strict scrutiny are you about done 1:06 counselor just about your Eleanor please 1:09 just give me another minute your honor I 1:11 understand that this may be a novel 1:13 argument for this court however this 1:16 parent is raising the issue of 1:17 protection of his and his child's rights 1:19 and therefore the court must consider 1:21 his argument oh God 1:23 why can't people just cooperate and move 1:25 on pardon me your honor 1:27 nothing never mind continue counselor 1:30 but make it quick I have a full docket 1:33 and there are other people waiting to be 1:35 heard what this means your honor is that 1:39 we expect that this Court will use all 1:41 five parts of the strict scrutiny 1:43 requirements before infringing or 1:45 reducing any of his rights 1:47 counselor is all of this really 1:49 necessary 1:50 I followed the family code statutes in 1:53 this court and you know this yes your 1:55 honor that is why my client wants this 1:58 issue addressed he is objecting to the 2:00 Family Code statutes being applied to 2:02 him and his objecting on the grounds 2:04 that those statutes violate his 2:06 fundamental rights because they do not 2:08 apply these five steps if you allow me 2:10 to continue Your Honor I believe that 2:12 you will see 2:13 this is appropriate for this case if you 2:16 must counselor then proceed we are 2:18 asking this court to follow these five 2:20 steps number one switch the burden to 2:23 the state and the other side number two 2:25 show a compelling interest number three 2:27 show a necessity to act number four show 2:30 that the statutes you are using are 2:32 narrowly tailored in number five show 2:34 how this is the least restrictive means 2:37 in addition Your Honor this court must 2:39 try the least restrictive before the 2:41 court can decide that it does not work 2:42 with these parents and the test for 2:44 measuring whether or not it works is not 2:46 whether or not the parents get along but 2:49 rather if one parent is interfering with 2:51 the other parents ability to exercise 2:53 their rights and time with the child now 2:55 are you finished just one more thing 2:58 also the court may not burden the 3:00 exercise of these rights through the 3:02 ordering of custody evaluations guardian 3:05 ad litems or other expensive and 3:07 burdensome interrogative fishing type of 3:09 explorations then how do you propose I 3:12 figure out what is in the best interest 3:14 of the child counselor 3:22 very nice performance counselor however 3:25 your honor 3:26 they are forgetting about the most 3:28 important person in all of this the 3:30 children and the court must act in the 3:33 child's best interest and not in the 3:34 parents interests they are forgetting 3:37 about he most important person in all of 3:39 this 3:39 the children the court must act in the 3:42 child's best interest and not in the 3:44 parents the mother is asking the court 3:46 to decide the best interest of the 3:48 children and because the parents are in 3:50 disagreement with what that is the court 3:52 has the authority to make this decision 3:54 in fact you are required to make this 3:57 decision by statute your honor again we 4:02 do not believe that is what the courts 4:04 should be addressing here today and we 4:06 will show you that by protecting this 4:08 father's rights from the attacks the 4:10 mother is making on his rights here 4:11 today that you will be protecting the 4:13 child as well the child has to fit 4:16 parents whether they disagree with each 4:18 other or not is not how the court should 4:20 decide that it gets to take over the 4:22 rights of the child to be protected by 4:24 each of his parents we believe that the 4:26 court should address whether it should 4:28 protect both parents rights equally 4:30 since there are no proper charges before 4:32 this court regarding any child abuse or 4:34 endangerment therefore the court must 4:37 presume that both parents are fit and 4:38 must protect my parent from attacks on 4:41 his rights from the other parent your 4:43 honor if the court disagrees with us we 4:46 are asking for enumeration of specific 4:48 statutes that this Court believes 4:49 authorizes it to create this 4:51 classification of parent and to show 4:53 that the statute is narrowly tailored on 4:55 the record if you are done counselor I 4:58 would like to take a moment to look 5:00 through your motions yes of course your 5:03 honor but may I just finish ms Greene 5:06 interrupted just as I was wrapping up 5:08 that the three questions that my client 5:10 would like this court to address before 5:12 proceeding you may but make it quick yes 5:15 your honor 5:15 well do the equal protection motion is 5:18 addressing one thing and that is the 5:20 application of the Fourteenth Amendment 5:22 Due Process Clause into this family 5:24 court proceeding the questions that we 5:26 believe the court is being asked to 5:28 address today's number one do 5:31 fundamental rights determine the level 5:33 of procedural due process that is work 5:35 number two what is the classification 5:37 that you are depending on to treat these 5:40 two parents differently than other fit 5:41 parents and number three what is this 5:44 Court's compelling state interest Thank 5:48 You counselor I will take a few minutes 5:50 to review the pleadings now