By Richard Carelli, Associated Press, 01/12/00
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court today wrestled with a dispute over grandparents' right to see their grandchildren even when the parents object, an emotional issue that could touch every American family.
Questions and comments from the bench made clear a majority of the justices hold grave doubts about a broadly worded Washington state law that allowed visitation rights whenever doing so was found to be in a child's best interest.
But several of those justices appeared sympathetic to distinguishing between grandparents and, as Justice David H. Souter put it, "anyone walking in off the street."
The court is being asked to decide whether parents' constitutional right to raise children without government interference trumps the Washington law that allows "any person," relative or nonrelative, to petition a court at any time for visitation rights.
The state's highest court struck down the law in late 1998, saying it violated fit parents' "fundamental right" to rear families as they choose. A decision by the nation's highest court is expected by late June.
Early in today's 60-minute argument session, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist noted past rulings that "give parents the right to decide how the kids are going to be brought up, who they're going to see."
And he worried aloud about reinstating Washington's law that might allow "a great aunt" to "come in and say, 'I want to take her to the movies every Friday."'
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor called the Washington law "breathtakingly broad," noting that "anyone can march in" and seek visitation rights to any child.
And Justice Antonin Scalia suggested, "It would be in the best interest of many children to take them away from their parents and give them to someone else. But the parents have rights."
Justices Stephen G. Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg also questioned the Washington law. But Breyer and Souter also acknowledged the "special relationship" between some grandparents and grandchildren.
Justice John Paul Stevens repeatedly voiced concern about grandparents being cut off from their grandchildren by parents who exercise an "absolute veto."
"The court should balance all interests," contended Seattle lawyer Mark Olson, who represents grandparents who want to spend more time with their two young granddaughters.
But Catherine Smith, a Seattle lawyer representing the girls' mother, argued that parents - not courts - makes decisions for children as long as those decisions do not put children at risk.
Thirty-one percent of adults -- about 60 million Americans -- are grandparents. So are six of the court's nine justices.
All 50 states have laws allowing grandparents to seek court-ordered visitation after a divorce or under other circumstances.
A survey released last week by AARP, the American Association of Retired Persons, found about one in nine American grandparents above the age of 50 helps care for at least one grandchild. The survey showed that 8 percent provide day care regularly, and 3 percent function as parents, rearing a grandchild.
The Washington court's decision wiped out an Anacortes, Wash., couple's legal right to see their two granddaughters.
Gary and Jennifer Troxel seek to regain the right to see the two girls, 10-year-old Natalie and 8-year-old Isabelle, over objections of their mother, Tommie Granville Wynn.
The girls' father, Brad Troxel, committed suicide in 1993. He and Tommie Granville were never married but had two daughters during their relationship. When they separated, Troxel lived with his parents. The girls regularly visited their father at the Troxels' home.
The Troxels, married for 35 years, have three other children and five grandchildren in all. Gary Troxel, a longshoreman, has been since his high school days a member of the Fleetwoods, a singing group that made such pop classics as "Come Softly to Me" and "Mr. Blue."
After Brad Troxel's death, Natalie and Isabelle continued seeing their grandparents regularly until their mother limited their visits. In late 1993, the Troxels went into state court, and two years later were awarded visitation of one weekend a month, one week during the summer and four hours on the girls' birthdays.
While Granville appealed, she married Kelly Wynn. He then adopted Natalie and Isabelle.
Not often enmeshed in family-law questions, the nation's highest court received plenty of unsolicited advice from an array of groups with varying views of what makes a family and what legal protections apply to family life.
Among those siding with the Troxels are AARP, the National Conference of State Legislatures, National League of Cities and U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Mrs. Wynn is supported by groups from both ends of the ideological spectrum -- from the American Civil Liberties Union and gay-rights groups to the Christian Legal Society.
Rehnquist, Stevens, O'Connor, Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Ruth Bader Ginsburg are the court's grandparents. Justice Clarence Thomas was raised by his grandparents.
The case is Troxel vs. Granville, 99-138.
