Bringing polygamist families closer to regaining custody of their children, a divided Texas Supreme Court agreed Thursday that the state had illegally seized 468 girls and boys from a ranch last month on unproven grounds of physical and sexual abuse.
State officials said they would move swiftly to return the children.
The 6-3 decision, upholding a ruling of the 3rd Court of Appeals last week, directed a state judge to revoke the custody order removing the children from the Yearning For Zion Ranch in west Texas.
But it gave no timetable for the children’s return and said that the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services could still seek authority to protect any of the children in individual cases.
In a statement after the ruling, Patrick Crimmins, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, which won custody of the children after a raid on April 3, said: “We are disappointed, but we understand and respect the court’s decision and will take immediate steps to comply.”
The statement added in part: “Our goal is to reunite families whenever we can and make sure the children will be safe. We will continue to prepare for the prompt and orderly reunification of these children with their families.”
Many parents and their lawyers were jubilant.
“It’s a great victory,” said Rod Parker, a Salt Lake City lawyer and longtime representative of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which broke with the Mormon Church over the Mormons’ repudiation of plural marriage.
“They confirmed what the Court of Appeals said, which is that the children were taken from their parents illegally and they must be returned,” Parker said by telephone from San Angelo, where the custody hearings were held before the children were sent to foster homes across Texas.
“We call upon the state of Texas to end this nightmare now and allow these families to be reunited,” Parker said.
In its ruling on May 23, the 3rd Court of Appeals, in Austin, said the state had failed to establish any immediate danger to the children and called their seizure illegal. The state appealed.
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The Supreme Court, in a terse ruling that was barely four pages long, said. “We are not inclined to disturb the Court of Appeals’ decision.” It added: “On the record before us, removal of the children was not warranted.”
In a partial dissent with two other justices, Justice Harriet O’Neill said the state had acted reasonably in seeking to remove “demonstrably endangered” pubescent girls from their homes but abused its discretion by removing younger girls and boys as well.
The Supreme Court ruled that the agency had means short of wholesale removal to protect any child in immediate danger.