The following excerpt is from Marsh v. Cnty. of San Diego, D.C. No. 3:07-cv-01923-JLS-AJB, No. 11-55395 (9th Cir. 2012):
substantive due process right to family integrity. See Rosenbaum v. Washoe County, 663 F.3d 1071, 1079 (9th Cir. 2011) ("The substantive due process right to family integrity or to familial association is well established."). The interest of parents "in the care, custody, and control of their children . . . is perhaps the oldest of the fundamental liberty interests . . . ." Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57, 65 (2000). A parent's right to choose how to care for a child in life reasonably extends to decisions dealing with death, such as whether to have an autopsy, how to dispose of the remains, whether to have a memorial service and whether to publish an obituary. Therefore, we find that the Constitution protects a parent's right to control the physical remains, memory and images of a deceased child against unwarranted public exploitation by the government.
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