Santosky v. Kramer

Santosky v. Kramer
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued November 10, 1981 Decided March 24, 1982
Full case name	John Santosky, et al. v. Bernhardt S. Kramer, Commissioner, Ulster County Department of Social Services, et al.
Docket no.	80-5889
Citations	455 U.S. 745 (more) 102 S. Ct. 1388; 71 L. Ed. 2d 599
Case history
Prior	Matter of John AA, 75 A.D.2d 910, 427 N.Y.S.2d 319 (App. Div., 3d Dept. 1980); cert. granted, 450 U.S. 993 (1981).
Holding
New York State's standard of fair preponderance of the evidence for the revocation of parental rights violates the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Before revoking parental rights, the State must satisfy a burden of at least clear and convincing evidence. Holding of the lower court reversed.
Court membership
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Associate Justices William J. Brennan Jr. · Byron White Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun Lewis F. Powell Jr. · William Rehnquist John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor
Case opinions
Majority	Blackmun, joined by Brennan, Marshall, Powell, Stevens
Dissent	Rehnquist, joined by Burger, White, O'Connor

Santosky v. Kramer, 455 U.S. 745 (1982), is a Supreme Court case involving the burden of proof for the revocation of parental rights. The case arose when the Ulster County, New York, Department of Social Services sought to revoke John Santosky II and Annie Santosky's parental rights to their three children. Under Section 622 of the New York State Family Court Act, the state was permitted to revoke parental rights to a natural child if, after a fair preponderance of the evidence, a court found "permanent neglect." The New York State Family Court found such neglect by using the "fair preponderance" standard. The Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the burden of proof used.

In a 5–4 opinion written by Associate Justice Harry Blackmun, the Supreme Court of the United States reversed and vacated the Appellate Division's ruling, holding that states seeking to sever parental rights irrevocably must show at least clear and convincing evidence of neglect. Justice William Rehnquist, joined by three others, dissented, on the grounds that the majority's focus on a single aspect of the law disregarded the fairness of the scheme as a whole. The ruling has since been criticized for its intrusion into state affairs. Because of the ruling, all states previously using the fair preponderance standard changed to the clear and convincing standard, but California has since abandoned the clear and convincing standard and returned to the fair preponderance standard.