Alan Overton v. Tennessee Department of Children's Services

Substantive Due Process limits the state's authority to deprive individuals of fundamental rights. The Tennessee courts in this case failed to conduct a substantive due process strict scrutiny analysis before depriving a parent of constitutionally protected fundamental rights. The question presented is: Does the court order and underlying state action which prohibits all contact between the father and his children violate substantive due process under the facts of this case. The Tennessee courts failed to conduct a substantive due process strict scrutiny analysis of the state action which deprived the father of constitutionally protected fundamental rights.