Child support case being heard by Supreme Court
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March 23, 2011
South Carolina: A case originally heard in the South Carolina Family Courts and appealed to the South Carolina Supreme Court will now be appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States. Turner vs. Rogers seeks to require that parents who are delinquent in child support payments be provided with a lawyer before putting them in jail. Turner is arguing that those facing jail time for their inability to meet child support payments have a constitutional right to a taxpayer-funded attorney. South Carolina, Florida, Maine, New Hampshire and Ohio are the five states where delinquent parents are not automatically given an attorney in such cases.
In it's ruling against Turner, the South Carolina Supreme Court said that he holds "the keys to his cell because he may end the imprisonment and purge himself of the sentence at any time" by paying some of the owed child support.
Turner is backed by the American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy groups. Thirteen states have filed briefs asking the Supreme Court to rule with South Carolina.[1]
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