Alabama SC strikes down grandparents visitation rights law

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neil

In a sad blow to grandparents rights the Alabama Supreme Court last week struck down a state law that guarantees visitation rights for grandparents, ruling that it unconstitutionally violated the rights of fit parents who might not want their kids to be around their grandparents.

The SC justices overturned Alabama’s recently passed Grandparent Visitation Act in a 7-2 decision.

To read more about this controversial issue check out my post on Grandparents Visitation Rights.

Here is some of what the Associated Press said about the ruling:

The opinion, written by Associate Justice Tom Parker, was 34 pages long, and Parker and other judges wrote another 100 pages that included biblical, personal and historical references explaining their positions on the law.

“I believe this is the most important case the members of this court have ever been asked to decide. The nuclear family is the building block for Western society,” wrote Associate Justice Glenn Murdock.

Writing for the majority, Parker said the case was about “when a state may impinge upon the fundamental right of a fit, natural parent to decide which associations are in the best interests of his or her children.”

The law is unconstitutional because the state overstepped its bounds with the law, he wrote.

In an accompanying opinion other justices didn’t join, Parker traced the history of parents’ rights back to God.

He quoted Old Testament texts and Christian doctrine to argue that a family, like the state or church, is a legitimate governing authority that can’t be overpowered by a law.

This is not the last you will hear on this, as dozens of states now have currently pending or recently passed grandparents rights legislation. Much of it will end up in the federal courts, and hopefully the Supreme Court will take up the issue again in the future.

For now, you can also find lots of information about current grandparents visitation rights and grandparents rights in general by reading my book No Greater Loss where I go into great detail about these issues.