Ninth Circuit panel hears argument in family rights case

Today a panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sitting in Boise, Idaho, heard oral argument in CIR’s appeal of the case Mueller v. Auker.  In that case, a Boise police officer, without consulting a judge or a court, seized custody of the five-week-old daughter of CIR clients Eric and Corissa Mueller because the officer took an emergency room doctor’s side in a medical dispute.  The Muellers — who lost custody for thirty-six hours, during which doctors determined that their daughter merely had a cold — are appealing the district court judge’s grant of summary judgment to the police officer.  They also are seeking a new trial of the City of Boise and the emergency room doctor because of irregularities in the way the first trial was conducted.