Grandma got run over by the Supreme Court: Suggestions for a constitutional nonparental visitation statute after Troxel v. Granville

Every state in the Union has a statute allowing for court-ordered child vis itation by non-parents. Until the summer of 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court ha d never ruled on the constitutionality of such statutes. When the Court fin ally tackled Washington's statute in Troxel v. Granville, the Court left th e most significant questions unanswered, while casting doubt on the validit y of Washington's statute. Prior to Troxel, the Washington Supreme Court ha d held Washington's nonparental visitation statute facially unconstitutiona l, finding that the statute violated the Fourteenth Amendment rights of par ents. After granting certiorari, the U.S. Supreme Court held Washington's s tatute unconstitutional as applied and refused to reach the question of fac ial unconstitutionality. This Comment proposes three changes to Washington' s nonparental visitation statute that would ameliorate the objections voice d by the U.S. Supreme Court regarding the application of the statute: the W ashington Legislature should limit the classes of persons allowed to petiti on for visitation, codify the common law rebuttable presumption that a pare nt's decision regarding visitation is in the best interest of the child, an d add a purpose section to the nonparental visitation statute. This Comment concludes that with these changes, Washington's nonparenta! visitation sta tute would be constitutional and Washington's lower courts would have the g uidance needed to constitutionally apply the statute in a manner consistent with precedent.