Whether the decision of the lower courts, which awarded full custody of a child to a nonparent due to the existence of a strong bond, violates the fundamental rights of a fit parent under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment

QUESTIONS PRESENTED 1. Whether the decision of the lower courts, which awarded full custody of a child to a nonparent due to the existence of a strong bond, violates the fundamental rights of a fit parent under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.(SEE EXHIBIT A)(SEE EXHIBIT B) 2. Whether the standard of "extraordinary circumstances" as applied in Bennett v. Jeffreys, 40 N.Y.2d 543 (1976), which allows non-parents to obtain custody without a finding of parental unfitness, is unconstitutional. 3. Whether the Family Court of New York violated the Due Process Clause of the . Fourteenth Amendment by granting visitation and subsequently full custody to a non-parent over the objection of a fit parent.(SEE EXHIBIT A)(SEE EXHIBIT B) , 4. Whether the actions of the Family Court of New York are in direct conflict with this Court’s ruling in Zroxel v. Granville, which affirms the fundamental right of parents to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their‘children.(SEE EXHIBIT A) 5. Whether the Family Court's decision to grant custody to an aunt over the biological father, based on the father's his relocation to North Carolina,,violates the father's constitutional rights under the Fourteenth Amendment.(SEE EXHIBIT A)“ 6. Whether a stipulated finding of neglect, based on insufficient information and used to establish extraordinary circumstances, unlawfully infringes on the father's fundamental parental rights and denies the father due process rights. 4 on 7. Whether the legal malpractice of the father's attorney; in failing to appeal an original order granting visitation to an aunt against the father's wishés; constitutes 4 violation of the father's due process rights.(SEE EXHIBIT D) PARTIES-TO THE PROCEEDING Petitioner: | Delbert W. Hargis Jr. * cael Respondent: StateofNew York ~ at ; _ OPINIONS BELOW The decision of the New York State Appellate Division of Fourth Department is reported at . Matter of Pritty-Pitcher v Hargis 2023. NY Slip Op 05886 Decided on November 17, 2023 and Pritty-Pitcher v. Hargis, 221 A.D.3d 1546. The decision of the Family Court of Jefferson County, New York, as ordered by the Family Court, Jefferson County (Allison J. Nelson, A.J.), entered August 31, 2022, in a proceeding pursuant to Family Court Act article 6 not reported. The decision of the New York State Court of Appeals decided on April 23, 2024 which denied the father’s motion to seek leave to appeal the Jefferson County Family Court’s August 29, 2022 » JURISDICTION”: The jurisdiction of this Court is invoked under 28 US.C. § 1257(a). The judgment of the . New York State Court of Appeals was entered on April 23, 2024, in which the New York State Court of Appeals denied the father’s motion to seek leave to appeal the November 17, 2023 judgement of the Appellate Division Fourth Department that affirmed the Jefferson County Family Court’s August 29, 2022 signed Modified Order of Custody. This petition is filed within 90 days of that denial. CONSTITUTIONAL AND STATUTORY PROVISIONS INVOLVED ° This case involves the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and N.Y. Fam. Ct.Act § 1012(e) & (f). 7... ,