Supreme Court to Hear Arguments on Child's Fourth Amendment Rights

Tue Feb 22, 10:00 am ET

ALEXANDRIA Va. and CHICAGO, Feb 22, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On March 1, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Camreta v. Greene, the first major case concerning child protective services systems to reach the high court in 21 years.

"Our legal system is wise enough that it can protect children without violating the Bill of Rights," said Carolyn Kubitschek, one of the foremost child protection/civil rights lawyers in the country, who is representing S.G. pro bono before the Supreme Court. Kubitschek is also the volunteer Vice President of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform.

S.G., a 9-year-old girl, sued an Oregon deputy sheriff and a child protection investigator, arguing the two-hour in-school custodial interrogation she endured violated her civil rights.

The two men pulled S.G. from her classroom for questioning based on a hearsay allegation made several days earlier claiming her father may have abused her.

During the interrogation at her school, S.G. repeatedly denied abuse, but she was browbeaten by the investigator.

She said the investigator "kept asking me over and over again, and I would say, no, I don't think my dad touched me in a bad way. He would say, 'No, that's not it,' and then ask me the same question again. Finally, I just started saying yes to whatever he said." The experience so traumatized S.G. that she became physically ill.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled her constitutional rights were violated.

Seventy organizations and individuals joined 18 "Friend of the Court" briefs supporting S.G. The groups run the gamut from the Southern Poverty Law Center to the Family Research Council, and a wide array of child advocacy and family rights groups.

"This case raises truly fundamental questions of liberty for all children and families," said Diane Redleaf, Executive Director of the Family Defense Center, which coordinated the national amicus effort and wrote one of the amicus briefs.

There is more information on a website set up by NCCPR, www.camretavgreene.info and on the FDC website, www.familydefensecenter.net (briefs available at the FDC site).

SOURCE National Coalition for Child Protection Reform