Lehman on Behalf of Her Children, Lehman et al. v. Lycoming County Children's Services Agency (458 U.S. 502)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 30, 1982 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 458 U.S. 502 · 102 S. Ct. 3231
- Decided
- June 30, 1982
- Term
- October Term 1981
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice Powell
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Powell delivered the opinion of the Court. The question presented is whether the habeas corpus statute, 28 U. S. C. §2254, confers jurisdiction on the federal courts to consider collateral challenges to state-court judgments involuntarily terminating parental rights. I The facts of this case are described in detail in In re William L., 477 Pa. 322, 383 A. 2d 1228, cert. denied sub nom. Lehman v. Lycoming County Children’s Services, 439 U. S. 880 (1978), the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision terminating the parental rights of petitioner Marjorie Lehman with respect to three sons born in 1963, 1965, and 1969. In 1971, Ms. Lehman discovered that she was pregnant again. Because of housing and other problems related to the care of her sons, Ms. Lehman voluntarily placed them in the legal custody of the Lycoming County Children’s Services Agency, and it placed them in foster homes. . Although Ms. Lehman visited her sons monthly, she did not request their return until 1974. At that point, the Lycoming County Children’s Services Agency initiated parental termination proceedings. In those proceedings, the Orphan’s Court Division of the Lycoming County Court of Common Pleas heard testimony from Agency caseworkers, a psychologist, nutrition aides, petitioner, and the three sons. The judge concluded: “[I]t is absolutely clear to the court that, by reason of her very limited…
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