Cato Institute Senior Vice President for Legal Studies Clark Neily is available for interviews on M.M. v. King, which involves the no-contact, no in-person visitation policies in certain Michigan county jails.

As a result of this prohibition on in-person visits, presumptively innocent arrestees who are detained pretrial have been prevented from seeing and hugging their own children for weeks, months, or even longer—and for no bona fide penological reason.

A state trial court dismissed a challenge to this policy, finding that the Michigan Constitution does not protect a right to family integrity or specifically for incarcerated parents—including ones who are being held pretrial and are therefore presumed innocent—to hug their own children.

On appeal, Cato joined an amicus brief with more than a dozen other organizations and individuals arguing that incarcerated parents have a right to in-person visits with their children.

Neily writes: “It is hardly surprising that neither the US Constitution nor any state constitution explicitly protects the right of a parent to hug their own children because the idea that the government would gratuitously interfere with such a basic expression of love and affection is almost incomprehensibly dystopian. But the mere fact that a given right is not expressly set forth in a constitution does not mean there is no such right, nor does it relieve the judiciary of its obligation to protect that right from infringement by the government.”

If you would like to speak with Neily on this topic, please contact me to set up an interview.