S. O., et al. v. District of Columbia

This Court has held that the state and federal government’s use of fabricated evidence and perjured testimony violates an individual’s Due Process rights so as to render a criminal proceeding fundamentally unfair. While a number; of states, including the District of Columbia, afford substantive and procedural protections to parents and children in civil neglect proceedings similar to those made available to a criminal defendant, the breath of these protections as required by the Constitution, where the government uses fabricated evidence and perjured testimony, is still unknown. The question presented is: Whether the Fifth Amendment prohibits the District of Columbia’s use of fabricated evidence and perjured testimony in a civil child neglect proceeding, and the appropriate remedy thereof. n