Friday, May 30, 2008

Texas v. FLDS: The Final Chapter?

Looks as though the Social Worker Hive has been stoppped, at least for the time being.

In a crushing blow to the state's massive seizure of children from a polygamist sect's ranch, the Texas Supreme Court ruled Thursday that child welfare officials overstepped their authority and the children should go back to their parents.

The high court affirmed a decision by an appellate court last week, saying Child Protective Services failed to show an immediate danger to the more than 400 children swept up from the Yearning For Zion Ranch nearly two months ago.


"On the record before us, removal of the children was not warranted," the justices said in their ruling issued in Austin.

In another note:

Texas officials claimed at one point that there were 31 teenage girls at the ranch who were pregnant or had been pregnant, but later conceded that about half of those mothers, if not more, were adults. One was 27

There are two distinct issues here. First is the FLDS' claim that there is some sort of "religious" mandate for the practice of polygamy (which will be perfectly legal if SCOTUS follows the "logic" of Justice Kennedy, et al, in Casey and Lawrence.) Their claim is bogus under natural law, period.

The second is the remedy taken by Texas CPS--which was simply asinine. Forcibly removing, at gunpoint, 400++ children from their homes is...well....illegal.

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