In re K.B. (Maryland Supreme Court) This brief argues that a 13-year-old girl’s exclusion from her own dependency hearing, which resulted in her removal from her grandmother’s home and placement in foster care, violated her due process rights. The brief also addresses the broader constitutional problem of presumptive public exclusion from dependency court proceedings, arguing that the standard for excluding a party from their own hearing must be even more stringent than the First Amendment standard for excluding the public.
In re Marriage of R.L. and S.L. (California Court of Appeal) This brief urges a California court to recognize sexual and reproductive coercion as forms of domestic violence that courts must consider when evaluating requests for domestic violence restraining orders. It argues that the trial court’s failure to analyze these forms of abuse in the totality of circumstances contradicted both California statute and the Legislature’s expansive commitment to bodily autonomy, and that correcting this error is essential to protecting victim-survivors.
In re B.Cd. & B.Cb. (Maryland Supreme Court) Filed by If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice, Center on Reproductive Rights, and the Center on Reproductive Rights and Justice at UC Berkeley Law, this brief urges the Court to reject the practice of imposing Child in Need of Assistance findings on parents who utilize the state’s Safe Haven Program to protect Marlylander’s fundamental right to reproductive freedom, which includes an individual’s right to make decisions throughout pregnancy.
Matter of L.B. (New York Court of Appeals) This brief argues that New York law cannot impose a duty on a prospective father to control the actions of his pregnant partner, as a fetus does not qualify as a “child” under the Family Court Act. It further contends that the neglect finding against Mr. B threatens women’s reproductive autonomy and bodily integrity, raises serious constitutional concerns under New York’s equal protection clause, and harms families by forcing fathers into an impossible position of surveilling their partners or risking loss of parental rights.