Can’t Sue Negligent Officials in Abuse Cases, Court Rules

The Supreme Court ruled today that public officials may not be sued when their gross negligence permits a child to be abused by a parent.

By a 6-3 vote, the justices said a state does not have a constitutional duty to protect people, including abused children, who are not in the state’s custody.

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, writing for the court, said, “As a general matter . . . we conclude that a state’s failure to protect an individual against private violence simply does not constitute a violation of the (Constitution’s) due process clause.”

In an unusual emotional dissent, Justice Harry A. Blackmun exclaimed, “Poor Joshua! It is a sad commentary upon American life and constitutional principles . . . that this child, Joshua DeShaney, now is assigned to live out the remainder of his life profoundly retarded” and without an opportunity to sue the state.

Social workers were accused of violating Joshua’s constitutional rights by failing to come to his rescue after repeatedly receiving evidence that he was being beaten.

Not a Duty

But Rehnquist said the state’s awareness of the boy’s plight does not mean it has a duty to protect him.

Only “when the state takes a person into its custody and holds him there against his will” does the Constitution require officials to take responsibility for the individual’s safety and well-being, Rehnquist said.

“While the state may have been aware of the dangers that Joshua faced in the free world, it played no part in their creation, nor did it do anything to render him any more vulnerable to them,” he said.

Joining Rehnquist were Justices Byron R. White, John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O’Connor, Antonin Scalia and Anthony M. Kennedy. Justices William J. Brennan and Thurgood Marshall joined Blackmun in dissent.

Taken to Hospital

A suit in Joshua’s behalf was filed against the Winnebago County, Wis., Department of Social Services and two of its employees after Joshua was treated at a hospital for head injuries that destroyed half his brain, leaving him profoundly retarded and institutionalized for the rest of his life.

A social worker had visited the DeShaney home on March 7, 1984, a day before the severe beating, and was told that several days earlier Joshua had fainted in the bathroom for no apparent reason. But according to court records, the social worker did not ask to see the boy.

The boy’s father was convicted of child abuse and sentenced to two to four years in prison.

Today’s Supreme Court ruling upheld a federal appeals court decision that threw out the suit.

In another case decided today, the court ruled that states may not prohibit political party leaders from endorsing primary election candidates. The justices, by an 8-0 vote, struck down a California law as an impermissible infringement of constitutionally protected freedom of speech. The court also struck down as unconstitutional California laws limiting the term of office for party leaders and dictating the makeup of state party central committees.