LAWS 2201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Extraordinary Measures, Life Insurance, Parens Patriae
Document Summary
Week 6 parenting, the law and the state. Persons and property: unwed father of three children loses them to the state, without a hearing, when their mother dies. Under illinois law, the children of unwed fathers become ward of the state upon the death of the mother. Stanley appealed claiming that he had never been shown to be an. Issue unfit parent: whether the children"s removal, without a hearing, denies father right to equal protection under the 14th amendment to the us constitution. Because unwed mothers and married fathers cannot be deprived of their children with/without a showing of unfitness, his equal protection rights were violated. Ratio: father denied a hearing as to fitness and was therefore denied equal protection under the 14th amendment, his fitness as a father is irrelevant. The only relevant fact is that the father is unmarried: law is unequal between men and women which violates 14th amendment rights and so father gets his kids.
