AP - TEXAS CHILD SEIZURE RAISES LEGAL QUESTIONS .... DUHHH!

In a copyrighted story by Michelle Roberts, (LINK HERE) the Associated Press is now questioning the legality of the Texas child seizures:

"...the broad sweep - from nursing infants to teenagers - is raising constitutional questions, even in a state where authorities have wide latitude for taking a family's children.

"The move has the appearance of "a class-action child removal," said Jessica Dixon, director of the child advocacy center at Southern Methodist University's law school in Dallas.

"I've never heard of anything like that," she said.

Rod Parker, a spokesman for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, contends that the state has essentially said, "If you're a member of this religious group, then you're not allowed to have children."

"Constitutional experts say U.S. courts have consistently held that a parent's beliefs alone are not grounds for removal. The general view of the legal system is until there is an imminent risk of harm or actual harm, you can't do that," said UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh."

Testimony by sect members is alleging that not all of the families of the sect practiced polygamy and that some of the children taken were taken from traditional nuclear families.

Attorneys are also complaining about the courtroom conditions and the sheer chaos that has resulted from having so many cases going on at one time in a small court not equipped to the handle them.

Texas officials are saying, however, that the fact that the probable cause for the raid was based upon falsified reports will not effect the outcome since they followed the information given by an emotionally troubled informant with a history of making false child abuse reports in good faith. (sarcasm off.)