Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-2025
Abstract
In the standard story taught in typical Parents, Children, and the State or Children & the Law courses, analysis of parental rights has a clear beginning. In 1923, at the height of the Lochner era, in Meyer v. Nebraska, a case of first impression, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that “[w]ithout doubt” the Due Process Clause protected the right “to marry [and] establish a home and bring up children.” Two years later, in Pierce v. Society of Sisters, the Court recognized “the liberty of parents and guardians to direct the upbringing and education of children under their control.” But, in The Origins of Family Rights and Family Regulation: A Dual History, Laura Savarese demonstrates that the Court did not invent those rights.
Disciplines
Family Law | Law
Creative Commons License

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Recommended Citation
Josh Gupta-Kagan, Before Meyer and Pierce, JOTWELL (December 15, 2025) (reviewing Laura Savarese, "The Origins of Family Rights and Family Regulation: A Dual History," 78 Stan. L. Rev. 63 (2026)), https://family.jotwell.com/before-meyer-and-pierce/.