Brief for Amici Curiae Scholars of the Constitutional Rights of Children in Support of Respondent Edith Windsor Addressing the Merits and Supporting Affirmance

This amicus brief filed by Scholars of the Constitutional Rights of Children turns the spotlight on children in same-sex families. The brief enumerates the ways Section 3 of DOMA impairs children's interests by denying federal recognition of their parents' marriages.

Brief of Amici Curiae Scholars of the Constitutional Rights of Children in Support of Petitioners in Obergefell v. Hodges

Supreme Court precedent establishes that the government may not punish children for matters beyond their control. Same-sex marriage bans and non-recognition laws (“marriage bans”) do precisely this. The states argue that marriage is good for children, yet marriage bans categorically exclude an entire class of children – children of same-sex couples – from the legal, economic and social benefits of marriage. This amicus brief recounts a powerful body of equal protection jurisprudence that prohibits punishing children to reflect moral disapproval of parental conduct or to incentivize adult behavior. We then explain that marriage bans punish children of same-sex couples because they: 1) foreclose their central legal route to family formation; 2) categorically void their existing legal parent-child relationships incident to out-of-state marriages; 3) deny them economic rights and benefits; and 4) inflict psychological and stigmatic harm. States cannot justify marriage bans as good for children and then exclude children of same-sex couples based on moral disapproval of their same-sex parents’ relationships or to incentivize opposite-sex couples to “procreate” within the bounds of marriage. To do so, severs the connection between legal burdens and individual responsibility and creates a permanent class or caste distinction.

Rights of children and adolescents with disabilities

Rights of children and adolescents with disabilities Until not long ago, children with disabilities were made fun of, hidden away and, all too often, the victims of violence. Fortunately, this state of affairs has improved thanks to changes in the way disability is viewed and to the ratification, by 23 countries in the region, of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

Authorization request of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice : hearings before the Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, Ninety-sixth Congress ...

Item 1020.

Oversight on GAO report : hearing before the Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, Ninety-sixth Congress, second session, on oversight on GAO report, April 15, 1980.

"Serial no. 51."

Legislative charter for the FBI : hearings before the Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, Ninety-sixth Congress, first and second sessions, on H.R. 5030 ... September 6, 12, October 18, 19, November 8, 13, 15, December 6, 1979, and February 7, 1980.

Item 1020.

Authorization requests of the Civil Rights Commission : hearing before the Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, Ninety-sixth Congress, first session ... March 7, 1979.

"Serial no. 11."

Authorization requests of the Community Relations Service at the Department of Justice : oversight hearing before the Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, Ninety-sixth Congress, first session ... February 22, 1979.

"Serial no. 21."

Affirmative action and federal contract compliance : hearing before the Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, Ninety-ninth Congress, first session on affirmative action and federal contract compliance November 7, 1985.

Shipping list no.: 86-717-P.

Privacy--the collection, use, and computerization of personal data : joint hearings before the Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Privacy and Information Systems of the Committee on Government Operations and the Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Ninety-third Congress, second session ... June 18, 19, and 20, 1974

Hearings held on S. 3418, 3633, 3116, 2810, and 2542.

Urban public space and the marginalisation of children and young people

In the 21st century city, public space for a range of users, but especially children and young people, has come under threat. Watson proposed that “public space itself has come under attack from several directions-thematisation, enclosure into malls and other controlled spaces, and privatisation, or from urban planning and design interventions to erase its uniqueness”. Largely as a result of these trends, Scott observed that “young urbanites form a marginalised age class movement is restricted, out of fear and distrust, within aims to protect, monitored by city surveillance methods within the security-obsessed fabric”. The use of public space by children and young people is a contentious issue in a number of countries and a range of measures deployed to control public space curtail the rights of children and young people to claim the space for their use through curfews, oppressive camera surveillance and at times, the unwarranted attentions of police and private security personnel.

A study of the extent to which Irish law, policy and practice allow for Ireland's application of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989 to pre-natal children

The central research question of this thesis asks the extent to which Irish law, policy and practice allow for the application of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) to pre-natal children. First, it is demonstrated that pre-natal children can fall within the definition of ‘child’ under the Convention and so the possibility of applying the Convention to children before birth is opened. Many State Parties to the CRC have interpreted it as applicable to pre-natal children, while others have expressed that it only applies from birth. Ireland has not clarified whether or not it interprets it as being applicable from conception, birth, or some other point. The remainder of the thesis examines the extent to which Ireland interprets the CRC as applicable to the pre-natal child. First, the question of whether Ireland affords to the pre-natal child the right to life under Article 6(1) of the Convention is analysed. Given the importance of the indivisibility of rights under the Convention, the extent to which Ireland applies other CRC rights to pre-natal children is examined. The rights analysed are the right to protection from harm, the right to the provision of health care and the procedural right to representation. It is concluded that Ireland’s laws, policies and practices require urgent clarification on the issue of the extent to which rights such as protection, health care and representation apply to children before birth. In general, there are mixed and ad hoc approaches to these issues in Ireland and there exists a great deal of confusion amongst those working on the frontline with such children, such as health care professionals and social workers. The thesis calls for significant reform in this area in terms of law and policy, which will inform practice.