Defend Yourself -- Be that ONE Small Voice: November 2015

The article below was a recent email from the Parental Rights Organization.

Gotta say, Protests won't do it. Complaining about the law and those involved in the legal arena won't do it.

We ALL MUST keep in mind "It is not about Justice. It is about the Law." PLUS being that One Small Voice and Educating Yourself to counter those that are Acting in the Color of Law.

It's one case at a time, and one precious family at a time.

May you find strength in your Higher Power,
Granpa Chuck
National Coordinator
National Family Advocacy Team. (NFAT)

~~~~email from the Parental Rights Organization~~~~

Scalia Would End Parental Rights

-- November 19, 2015

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, were it left to him, would end the Court’s recognition of parental rights as constitutional rights.Based on remarks he presented to the Georgetown University School of Law this week,

According to an article at Education Week, Scalia told a group of first-year law students that “many important rights are not contained” in the Constitution. “For example,

my right to raise my children the way I want. To teach them what I want them taught, not what Big Brother says. That is not there.”

Scalia warned that “the notion that everything you care a lot about has to be in the Constitution is a very dangerous notion.” From there he attacked the substantive due process theory on which fundamental parental rights currently rests. “[D]on’t get me started on substantive due process,” he offered.

At least Scalia is consistent. In his dissent in the Supreme Court’s most recent parental rights case, Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57 (2000), he claimed that “I do not believe that the power which the Constitution confers upon me as a judge entitles me to deny legal effect to laws that (in my view) infringe upon” parental rights (emphasis in original).

In that dissent Scalia admits that he believes parental rights are “among the ‘unalienable rights’ with which the Declaration of Independence proclaims ‘all men…are endowed by their Creator.’ And in [his] view, that right is also among the ‘othe[r] [rights] retained by the people’…” under the Ninth Amendment. Nevertheless,

he would rob parents of constitutional protection on the basis that the right is implied rather than enumerated in the Constitution.

If this is the position of the Court’s bastion of conservatism, what hope do parents have with its more progressive members?

Scalia’s dissent is not binding. The plurality opinion in Troxel continues to recognize fundamental parental rights established in Meyer v. Nebraska (1923) and Pierce v. Society of Sisters (1925). But they denied them the same strict scrutiny protection afforded other fundamental rights.

As a result, parental rights are subjected to the whims of judges on a case by case basis, with different standards applied all across the country.

Judges must call them “fundamental,” but can treat them however they like.

This is why we need the proposed Parental Rights Amendment (PRA), which will soon be filed in Congress.

The PRA will restore one high legal standard for parental rights in every courtroom in America, protecting “the liberty of parents to direct the upbringing, education, and care of their children [as] a fundamental right.”

But we need your help to make it happen.

Will you please consider a special one-time gift of $35, $50, or even $150 to continue ParentalRights.org’s drive to protect parental rights?

We cannot afford for Scalia’s view to continue to spread unchallenged. We cannot afford to see parental rights left to the whims of the same Court that has done so much to erode them in the first place. Even worse, we can’t let them be pushed aside simply because they aren’t spelled out in the black and white of the Constitution’s text.

Your donation today will support our efforts to secure parental rights sponsors on both sides of the congressional aisle.

With bipartisan support, we can answer Scalia’s challenge by putting parental rights into the text after all.

We must combat Scalia’s message with one of support for traditional parental rights. Can we count on your help today?

Sincerely,

Michael Ramey
Director of Communications & Research

P.S. – If you can’t help today or if you plan to give again, consider “Giving Tuesday,” coming December 1. We know as parents you give every day – especially to your children. If you donate to charity this “Giving Tuesday,” consider helping us give back to you.