| Lassiter v. Department of Social Services
(No. 79-6423)
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| Syllabus
| Opinion
[ Stewart ] | Concurrence
[ Burger ] | Dissent
[ Blackmun ] | Dissent
[ Stevens ] |
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Lassiter v. Department of Social Services
CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEALS OF NORTH CAROLINA
JUSTICE STEVENS, dissenting.
A woman's misconduct may cause the State to take formal steps to deprive her of her liberty. The State may incarcerate her for a fixed term, and also may permanently deprive her of her freedom to associate with her child. The former is a pure deprivation of liberty; the latter is a deprivation of both liberty and property, because statutory rights of inheritance as well as the natural relationship may be destroyed. Although both deprivations are serious, often the deprivation of parental rights will be the more grievous of the two. The plain language of the Fourteenth Amendment commands that both deprivations must be accompanied by due process of law. [*]
Without so stating explicitly, the Court appears to treat this case as though it merely involved the deprivation of an interest in property that is less worthy of protection than a person's liberty. The analysis employed in Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319, in which the Court balanced the costs and benefits of different procedural mechanisms for allocating a finite quantity of material resources among competing claimants, is an appropriate method of determining what process is due in property cases. Meeting the Court on its own terms, JUSTICE BLACKMUN demonstrates that the Mathews v. Eldridge analysis requires the appointment of counsel in this type of case. I agree with his conclusion, but I would take one further step.
In my opinion, the reasons supporting the conclusion that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment entitles [p60] the defendant in a criminal case to representation by counsel apply with equal force to a case of this kind. The issue is one of fundamental fairness, not of weighing the pecuniary costs against the societal benefits. Accordingly, even if the costs to the State were not relatively insignificant, but rather were just as great as the costs of providing prosecutors, judges, and defense counsel to ensure the fairness of criminal proceedings, I would reach the same result in this category of cases. For the value of protecting our liberty from deprivation by the State without due process of law is priceless.
* The Fourteenth Amendment provides in part:"No State shall ... deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law ...."
