Camreta v. Greene

Amicus curiae brief of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Civil Rights and Liberties Committee of the New York County Lawyers Association, and the Center for Constitutional Rights in support of respondents.

Brief filed: 01/31/2011

Documents

Camreta v. Greene

United States Supreme Court; Case No. 09-1454 & 09-1478

Argument(s)

On the belief that she had been molested by her father, S.G., a nine-year-old girl was forcibly removed from her classroom and interrogated alone for two hours by a state human services investigator and a visibly-armed deputy sheriff. Brief urges affirmance of the court of appeals, which held that S.G.’s seizure and prolonged detention violated the child’s and mother’s Fourth Amendment rights. Of note is a historical argument noting that children in the 18th and 19th Centuries could not summarily be taken from their parents by government officials and that 20th Century solutions to the problem of child abuse have not created an exception to the warrant requirement when seizing children. 

Author(s)

Prof. Mark Brown, Capital Univ. School of Law, Columbus, OH.