The Case for Opening Closed Records

Children pose a puzzle for American constitutional jurisprudence. On the one hand, the Supreme Court has recognized that children are persons within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment and has accorded them some, but not all, of the individual rights enjoyed by adults.' On the other hand, the Court has largely reinforced the notion that the traditional family unit provides adequate constitutional protection for children. Particularly in the substantive due process context, the Court has tended to equate children's interests with those of their parents and to protect children derivatively through such doctrines as parental autonomy and familial privacy.2