The following excerpt is from Schwarz ex rel. Parker v. Lassen Cnty. ex rel. Lassen Cnty. Jail, No. 2:10-cv-03048-MCE-CMK (E.D. Cal. 2013):
Parents of a decedent have a constitutionally protected liberty interest in their familial relationship under the Fourteenth Amendment. Curnow By and Through Curnow v. Ridgecrest Police, 952 F.2d 321, 325 (9th Cir. 1991). "It is well established that a parent has a fundamental liberty interest in the companionship and society of his or her child and that the state's interference with that liberty interest without due process of law is remediable under 42 U.S.C. 1983." Lee v. City of Los Angeles., 250 F.3d 668, 685 (9th Cir. 2001) (internal citations, quotations, and alterations omitted).
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The standard for such a violation is based on substantive due process, see Moreland v. Las Vegas Metro. Police Dep't, 159 F.3d 365, 371 (9th Cir. 1998), as the Fourteenth Amendment "provides heightened protection against government interference with certain fundamental rights and liberty interests," Washington v. Glucksberg, 521 U.S. 702, 721 (1997).
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