After Ten Years Of Legal Battles, A Non-custodial Parent's Federal Constitutional Challenge Makes Its Way Into The Alaska Supreme Court

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Aug 5, 2005 - After ten years of fighting to obtain his legal right to the custody of his daughter, a father who is under Alaska law, a non-custodial parent, filed an appeal in the Alaska State Supreme Court.

The father posted the required bond on August 1, 2005 to complete the filing deadlines. The case is Lamb vs. Pierce case number S-11943.

The father brought a federal challenge against Alaska's custody laws and the lower court under Superior Court Judge John Suddock, denied the father's request to have the laws declared unconstitutional.

The court cited that the State of Alaska had a compelling interest in the case.

However, in the case Lamb vs. the State of Alaska, the State argued that, ”In summary, the State has no interest in this private custody matter.” The suit against the State eventually made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court docket where the case died.

The father argues in brief, ” it (the State) has no compelling interest in this case, and without a compelling reason to intervene, the State does not have the federal constitutional authority to sever the custody of one's child. The State must find the parent unfit or actual harm to the child.”

The father states that ”it is a little ironic that the Alaska Supreme Court has found more protection to own four ounces of pot in your home than to raise your child. On a sliding scale it seems that pot carries more weight than the parent-child relationship. For the State to intervene on owning pot, the State must show harm, but it doesn't have to show harm when it severs the custody of a child to a parent.”

Tlamb775 {at} aol.com

 

Source