Are the California Grandparent Visitation Statutes Constitutional?
The faults that the Supreme Court found in the Washington statute do not appear to exist in the California grandparent visitation statute of Family Code 3104. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, writing for a four-member plurality of the Court stated the substantive component of the due process clause of the 14th Amendment, “provides heightened protection against government interference with certain rights and liberty interests.” (Citing Washington v. Glucksberg, 521 U.S. 702 (1997), and referring to Reno v. Flores, (1993).) Justice O’Connor said: “The liberty interest at issue in this case–the interest of parents in the care, custody, and control of their children is perhaps the oldest of the fundamental liberty interests recognized by this Court.” Justice O’Connor found several problems with the Washington statute. She wrote that when there is no finding that a particular parent is unfit, then the fundamental right of that parent (to raise the child as she deems proper) creates a constitut
