The ACLU has asked to file an amicus brief in Britney Spears\u2019 ongoing conservatorship case, arguing that Spears should be allowed to choose her own attorney.<\/b>
\nThe American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has asked to file an amicus brief in Britney Spears \u2019 ongoing conservatorship case, arguing that Spears should be allowed to choose her own attorney, and that to not allow her to do so would violate her constitutional rights. The request to Judge Brenda Perry, filed Monday, named more than two dozen advocacy organizations, including the ACLU Foundation Disability Rights Program, the Disability Rights Legal Center, and Mental Health Advocacy Services, as potential signatories to the request. \u201cProposed amici have an interest in ensuring that every person in a conservatorship, or at risk of a conservatorship, enjoys full, meaningful due process rights, in light of the significant liberty and autonomy interests at stake in these proceedings, and the long duration of the loss of rights that often occurs in conservatorships,\u201d the ACLU\u2019s request said. \u201cProposed amici believe that these due process rights include effective assistance of counsel throughout the conservatorship process, including the right to an attorney who zealously represents their interests, and the right to select and retain the attorney of their choice,\u201d the brief continued. \u201cProposed amici further have an interest in ensuring that people with disabilities, people perceived to have disabilities, and people with a record of disabilities, can use voluntary supports to make their own, informed choices.\u201d The filing described the ACLU and other organizations as \u201cproponents for supported decision-making as a tool to help people with disabilities retain and exercise their rights and make their own decisions.\u201d As described in the filing, \u201csupported decision-making\u201d is a \u201cwell-recognized system that allows a person to work with trusted, neutral advisors to consider, make, and communicate their own decision.\u201d The ACLU said in the filing that the advocacy organizations want to get involved with the Spears case because it is \u201can important instance of a situation that is common but rarely visible to the public.\u201d Spears made an IUD allegation and many others, including comparing her conservatorship to sex trafficking and being forced to take lithium against her will, in a June 23 hearing. In a statement issued days after Spears\u2019 testimony, the ACLU linked the allegations to issues including reproductive rights, eugenics, and the rights of disabled people. \u201cAs Spears made her case for the judge, one startling detail stood out amidst the laundry list of abuses,\u201d the ACLU said. \u201cAlthough she would like to have children and be married, her conservators refuse to allow her to have her intrauterine device (IUD) removed, she said, \u2018because they don\u2019t want me to be able to have children.\u2019\u201d \u201cUnfortunately, losing your reproductive freedom because you are in a conservatorship is very often legal,\u201d the statement said, explaining that conservatorships take away a person\u2019s right to make their own choices, including about reproduction. Calling Spears\u2019 conservatorship \u201cpart of a long history of people with disabilities\u2014most often people of color\u2014being forcibly sterilized, forced to end pregnancies, or losing the right to raise their own children,\u201d the ACLU asked the court to \u201crestore [Spears\u2019] rights\u201d and allow her to remove her IUD if she wants. The ACLU also recalled the \u201ceugenics movement\u201d in the U.S., when \u201cnumerous states passed laws allowing for the involuntary sterilization of people with disabilities.\u201d Although forced sterilization is no longer the law of the land in most cases, the ACLU says that it still happens in conservatorships. \u201c[T]he ease with which people with disabilities are placed under the control of a conservator or guardian and stripped of their civil rights and liberties is a deeply concerning, systemic issue, and what Spears has shared publicly fits the pattern of harm and deprivation of autonomy that happens all too often across the country,\u201d the ACLU statement also said. Jamie Spears, Britney\u2019s father and longtime conservator, has said that he is \u201csimply not involved\u201d in any decisions regarding Britney Spears\u2019 reproductive issues, and has questioned whether her testimony is accurate. Since the hearing, many of the parties involved in Spears\u2019 conservatorship have looked to make a quick exit: co-conservator Bessemer Trust asked to resign on July 1, and on July 6, Spears\u2019 court-appointed attorney Sam Ingham, along with court-appointed law firm Loeb & Loeb, both filed requests to withdraw from the case. On Tuesday, TMZ reported that Los Angeles celebrity attorney Mathew Rosengart has agreed to take over representation for Britney, and will be making a formal request in court on Wednesday. Read the ACLU\u2019s request, below. Have a tip we should know? [email protected]<\/p>\n