Is the Parent/Adult Child Relationship Constitutionally Protected?
So where does the parent of an adult child fit into the prudential standing jurisprudence? The U.S. Supreme Court has not spoken directly to this question. It has, however, in a series of cases involving minor children, deemed the relationship between a parent and child to be constitutionally protected. Such cases recognize the right of parents, for example, to refuse to submit grandparent visitation questions to a judge’s discretion, to send their children to private rather than public schools, and to teach their children any foreign language they choose. These cases emphasize the importance of a parent’s ability to direct the upbringing, people, and values to which their children are exposed. In the tragic event of a minor child being murdered by police officers under color of state law, the loss of the parent-child relationship is one of constitutional dimension that would entitle parents to sue over the violation of the child’s rights (and the corollary injury inflicted upon the pa
