{"ID":52288,"name":"Lassiter v. Department of Social Services","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/cases\/1980\/79-6423","view_count":0,"docket_number":"79-6423","additional_docket_numbers":null,"manner_of_jurisdiction":"Writ of \u003Ci\u003Ecertiorari\u003C\/i\u003E","first_party":"Abby Gail Lassiter","second_party":"Department of Social Services of Durham County, North Carolina","timeline":[{"event":"Argued","dates":[351756000],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/33642"},{"event":"Decided","dates":[360219600],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/33643"},{"event":"Granted","dates":[339656400],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/53665"}],"lower_court":{"ID":54,"name":"North Carolina Supreme Court","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/taxonomy\/term\/54"},"facts_of_the_case":"\u003Cp\u003EOn September 26, 1974, William L. Lassiter was born out of wedlock. On May 23, 1975, the state determined that William L. Lassiter was a neglected child in need of protection, and placed him in the custody of the Durham County Department of Social Services. The state then placed William in foster care.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAbby Gail Lassiter, William\u2019s mother, was convicted of second-degree murder in July of 1976, and began serving her twenty-five to forty year sentence at the North Carolina Correctional Center for Women. In 1978, the Department petitioned the court to terminate Abby\u2019s parental rights. It alleged that Abby had not contacted William since December 1975, and that she willfully left William in foster care. On August 31, 1978, the state brought Abby from prison to the hearing, which opened with a discussion of whether Abby should have more time to find legal assistance. The court concluded that she had ample opportunity to obtain counsel; Abby did not claim to be indigent, and the court did not appoint counsel for her.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EA social worker from the Department testified about Abby\u2019s lack of contact with William, Abby\u2019s mother\u2019s unfitness to care for William, and William\u2019s condition. Abby cross-examined the social worker, but many of her questions were disallowed because they were arguments. She also testified on her own behalf and later cross-examined her mother, who denied saying she could not care for William, contradicting the Department\u2019s allegation. The court held that Abby willfully failed to maintain concern or responsibility for William\u2019s welfare, and terminated Abby\u2019s status as William\u2019s parent. On appeal, the North Carolina Court of Appeals determined that North Carolina was not constitutionally mandated to provide Abby counsel during the hearing. The Supreme Court of North Carolina denied her application for discretionary review.\u003C\/p\u003E\n","question":"\u003Cp\u003EDid the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment require North Carolina to provide Abby Gail Lassiter with counsel in a proceeding to permanently and irrevocably terminate her parental rights?\u003C\/p\u003E\n","conclusion":"\u003Cp\u003ENo. In a 5-4 decision written by Justice Potter Stewart, the Court held that North Carolina was not constitutionally required to appoint counsel for Lassiter. Justice Stewart emphasized that due process required fundamental fairness. He wrote, however, that the Court generally only recognized an indigent\u2019s right to appointed counsel where the litigant could lose his physical liberty if he lost the litigation.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EJustice Stewart looked to the Court\u2019s due process standard in \u003Cem\u003EMathews v. Eldridge\u003C\/em\u003E, determining that 1) Lassiter\u2019s interest was important, 2) the state shared with Lassiter a common interest in a correct decision, but also a pecuniary interest and an interest in informal procedures, and 3) the complexity of some proceedings could be great enough to make the risk of an erroneous deprivation of a parent\u2019s rights insupportably high. He refused to hold, however, that indigent parents were entitled to counsel in proceedings to terminate parental rights. He acknowledged that thirty-three states and the District of Columbia required counsel in termination hearings, but characterized this as wise public policy and not a constitutional requirement.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EChief Justice Warren Burger concurred, implying that the writ of certiorari was improvidently granted because the termination proceeding was not punitive.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EJustice Harry Blackmun dissented, joined by Justices William Brennan and Thurgood Marshall. He argued that the unique importance of a parent\u2019s interest in the care and custody of his or her child could not be constitutionally extinguished through formal judicial proceedings without the benefit of counsel. Justice Blackmun disagreed that physical confinement was the only loss of liberty serious enough to trigger a right to appointed counsel under the Due Process Clause. He also emphasized the risk of error in termination proceedings when a parent lacked counsel.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EJustice John Paul Stevens dissented separately to take Justice Blackman\u0027s reasoning one step further. Justice Stevens opined that the issue raised is one of fundamental fairness, not balancing of\u00a0pecuniary costs against societal benefits. No benefit to society can justify the state depriving an individual\u0027s liberty without due process of law.\u003C\/p\u003E\n","advocates":[{"advocate":{"ID":34383,"name":"Leowen Evans","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/people\/leowen_evans","view_count":0,"last_name":"Evans","roles":null,"thumbnail":null,"length_of_service":0,"identifier":"leowen_evans"},"advocate_description":"on behalf of the Petitioner pro hac vice","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_advocate\/case_advocate\/11896"},{"advocate":{"ID":42053,"name":"Steven Mansfield Shaber","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/people\/steven_mansfield_shaber","view_count":0,"last_name":"Shaber","roles":null,"thumbnail":null,"length_of_service":0,"identifier":"steven_mansfield_shaber"},"advocate_description":"on behalf of North Carolina as amicus curiae","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_advocate\/case_advocate\/11897"},{"advocate":{"ID":43158,"name":"Thomas Russell Odom","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/people\/thomas_russell_odom","view_count":0,"last_name":"Odom","roles":null,"thumbnail":null,"length_of_service":0,"identifier":"thomas_russell_odom"},"advocate_description":"on behalf of the Respondent","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_advocate\/case_advocate\/11898"}],"oral_argument_audio":[{"id":18209,"title":"Oral Argument - February 23, 1981","public_note":null,"unavailable":null,"display_title":null,"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_media\/oral_argument_audio\/18209"}],"citation":{"volume":"452","page":"18","year":"1981","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_citation\/case_citation\/16216"},"decisions":[{"description":null,"votes":[{"member":{"ID":15043,"name":"Potter Stewart","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/people\/potter_stewart","view_count":0,"last_name":"Stewart","roles":[{"id":2687,"type":"scotus_justice","date_start":-353962800,"date_end":362984400,"appointing_president":"Dwight D. 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