Nearly three months ago, I submitted a petition for further review to Minnesota’s highest court after the appellate court upheld the lower court’s ruling. The lower court stripped custody of my three little girls and withheld parenting time with my oldest child without any factual findings of harm. That court official, Referee Jason Hutchison, fabricated evidence to arrive at his flagrantly biased decision. I appealed.
On appeal, the appellate court judge Jon Schmidt sidestepped the paramount constitutional question, I asked if a district court may deny a parent’s right to custody and parenting time with their minor child without a finding of parental unfitness. Since he skirted the issue, I appealed to the supreme court.
The state’s supreme court has 60 days to decide whether to review the case. The court has passed this deadline by 29 days. When I contacted the clerk of the court, she offered no resolution. There is no remedy for the court passing its judicial deadline.
In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court stated that “so long as a parent adequately cares for his or her children (i.e., is fit), there will normally be no reason for the State to inject itself into the private realm of the family to further question the ability of the parent to make the best decisions concerning the rearing of that parent’s child.” That same Court declared a presumption that “a fit parent will act in the best interest of his or her child.”
Yet, states interject themselves in every divorce proceeding involving minor children. They do not presume that a parent will act in the best interest of their child. Instead, the state declares itself as the ultimate arbiter of a child’s best interest.
Despite the clear constitutional protections, states will continue to violate this sacred right until the people demand recognition of it at the state level. Until the U.S. Supreme Court rules the actions of the states unconstitutional, there is but one solution. Citizens of each state must amend their constitutions to express and preserve this inalienable right.
PLEASE ADD YOUR NAME TO THE PETITION TO STOP THE DESTRUCTION OF FAMILIES.
