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21 Stan. J. C.R. & C.L. 1 (2025)

handle is hein.journals/stjcrcl21 and id is 1 raw text is: 














   CONSTITUTIONAL CATCH-22: THE

   UNVINDICATED RIGHTS OF FOSTER

                         CHILDREN


                         Clare  Elizondo*

    In 2015, a federal court ruled that the Texas foster care system was so
unsafe that it violated foster children's constitutional rights. Yet the Fifth Cir-
cuit struck down much of the court's remedial order on narrow tailoring
grounds, and today, the rights of Texas foster children remain far from vindi-
cated. In this Article, I argue that today's legal landscape placesfoster children
in a catch-22: federal courts must increasingly defer to the political branches,
but foster children cannot advocate for themselves in state political processes.
This Article advocates for broader remedial power when courts are adjudicat-
ing the rights offoster children.


J.D., Yale Law School, 2023. I would like to thank Professor Anne Alstott, Judge Charles
Montemayor, and Sophie Laing-I could not have written this Article without your guidance
and support. Thank you to the student editors of the Stanford Journal of Civil Rights & Civil
Liberties for your tireless work improving this piece. This Article is dedicated to the incredible
resilience of Texas foster children and those who care for them.


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