NOVEMBER 2005 UPDATE: EVOLUTION OF A DOCTRINE: THE SCOPE OF THE PARENTAL LIBERTY INTEREST PROTECTED BY SUBSTANTIVE DUE PROCESS AFTER MCCURDY

Sometimes a change in legal doctrine happens quickly. The attached brief was filed in the Third Circuit in December 2002 and the attached original introduction to the brief written shortly thereafter. At that time, the scope of the parental liberty interest protected by substantive due process had split the federal circuits, with the Seventh and Ninth agreeing that parents had a protected interest in companionship with their adult children. At that time, more than a dozen years of district court decisions within the Third Circuit had recognized the same parental substantive due process right, either because they believed the Third Circuit already had endorsed that view, or because they predicted that the Third Circuit would do so when confronted with the issue. View More