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Family Law

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Washington Law Review

Journal

2017

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Law

Dignity, Inequality, And Stereotypes, Luke A. Boso Oct 2017

Dignity, Inequality, And Stereotypes, Luke A. Boso

Washington Law Review

In Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court held that same-sex marriage bans violate the Equal Protection Clause for two primary reasons. First, they subordinate; they send the message that lesbians and gays are inferior to heterosexuals. Second, they unequally deny lesbian and gay individuals the liberty to make fundamental decisions about identity and self. These two conjoined themes—anti-group subordination and pro-individual liberty—comprise the two pillars of “equal dignity” that anchor Obergefell’s holding. This Article proposes that these pillars also support the Court’s anti-stereotyping jurisprudence, and equal dignity is thus one important aspect of what the Equal Protection Clause …


Parental Abduction And The State Intervention Paradox, Jane K. Stoever Jun 2017

Parental Abduction And The State Intervention Paradox, Jane K. Stoever

Washington Law Review

For most of America’s history, the common law deemed the family a “private sphere” into which the government did not enter. In recent decades, however, the state has increasingly regulated the family in overprotective and overly punitive ways. Many current state interventions in the family are misdirected, penalizing abuse victims and intervening in undesired ways that create harm while failing to respond to pleas for help. A prime area in which the state paradoxically remains laissez-faire concerns the phenomenon of parental abduction, a pervasive and devastating problem that has received scant attention due to the socio-legal focus on stranger danger. …