The supreme court, family policy, and alternative family lifestyles: The clash of interests

Abstract

This article reviews the basis for the judicial system's involvement in the development of national family policy. Major Supreme Court decisions in establishing the rights of the nuclear family, the extended family, foster families, communal families, homosexual couples, and unwed fathers are discussed. The Supreme Court is seen as having established the parameters of a nationally definedfamily, and the implications of the court's actions for the development of national family policy are considered.