The only danger was of an overreaching government sticking their noses in where they are not wanted.
In before gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands!
The mob will not be pleased.
But five minutes ago would have been ok?
L
FYI
The state has found zero abuse or otherwise the appeals court would have ruled otherwise. The warrant should have ended the second they found out that the call was fake.
Oh, my.
Heh. If it hadn’t been “legally and factually insufficient” how would you tell it had been performed by CPS?
I got excoriated by quite a few people here when I suggested that just blindly taking all of these children away from their mothers was unjust.
Pass the popcorn, this should be good.
“child welfare officials had no right to seize more than 400 children...”
Damn right they didn’t! They will deserve every lawsuit that’ll come out of this.
Militant
No sweat, the CPS will just round them up and bus them back to the ranch, right?
Judges: CPS improperly removed FLDS children
By Chuck Lindell | Thursday, May 22, 2008, 12:32 PM
A Texas agency improperly removed more than 450 children from a polygamist ranch in West Texas, an Austin appeals court ruled today.
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services failed to prove that children at the YFZ Ranch were in danger and needed to be removed from their homes, the 3rd Texas Court of Appeals ruled.
In addition, the appellate court ruled that District Judge Barbara Walther abused her discretion by failing to return the children after three days of hearings last month.
“Even if one views the FLDS belief system as creating a danger of sexual abuse by grooming boys to be perpetrators of sexual abuse and raising girls to be victims of sexual abuse as the department contends, there is no evidence that this danger is ‘immediate’ or ‘urgent,’ as contemplated” by state law, the court opinion states.
I see the appeals court didn’t order a return yet. So it seems the appeal ruling hangs on the definition of what “immediate” is.
Amen! There is a long line of SCOTUS precedent giving parents the fundamental right to the care, custody, and control of their children. Unless the parents are unfit, the govt cannot pry them away from their parents.
Substantive Due Process- 1
US Govt- 0
-—I suspect the Texas taxpayers will be footing the bill for this for a long time—
I linked to this article in another post on this, but since yours is currently in the Breaking News section, I thought it might be beneficial to post it in your thread too...
From the Deseret News:
http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700228198,00.html
Appeals court rules officials acted improperly in removing FLDS children
By Ben Winslow and Amy Joi O’Donoghue
Deseret News
Published: May 22, 2008
ELDORADO, Texas — An Austin appeals court has ruled that Texas child welfare authorities acted improperly in removing more than 450 children from the FLDS Church’s YFZ Ranch.
The 3rd Court of Appeals ruled on a legal challenge by a group of FLDS mothers seeking to have their children returned to them immediately.
“CPS was not justified in removing these children,” said Cynthia Martinez of the Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid Society, which is representing the mothers. “They did not provide any evidence that the children were in danger, and they acted hastily in removing the children.”
It is unclear if the children will be returned immediately to the ranch or what impact this will have on ongoing status hearings.
Outside the ranch, an FLDS woman rushed up to attorney Julie Balovich and hugged her, crying. They both went onto the ranch, but did not speak with reporters.
“This is huge,” Balovich told the Deseret News as she left the YFZ Ranch.
One FLDS woman, who was headed to court in San Angelo this afternoon, seemed pleased, but reserved, about the decision.
“That’s encouraging,” said a woman named Annette, when told of the decision by a Deseret News reporter. “I’m waiting to see if it’s really going to happen.”
Marleigh Meisner, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, said the agency has just received word of the ruling. “We are assessing the impact it may have on our case. Any decision regarding an appeal will be made at a later date.”
After hearing the news outside the San Angelo courthouse, one FLDS woman said, “There is justice in America.”
The woman was standing with William Crouse, a parenting instructor from the House of Yahweh, which is another religious group in Texas that has come under scrutiny by state officials. Criminal charges have been filed against members of that group, alleging it is a “sex cult.”
“People are finally starting to see through it,” Crouse said. “They’re attacking these people for what they believe in. It’s nothing but malarkey.”
E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com; amyjoi@desnews.com
PING