100
Kennedy, J., dissenting
limit the identity of permissible petitioners by restricting visitation petitions to grandparents, or by requiring petitioners to show a substantial relationship with a child, or both. See, e. g., Kan. Stat. Ann. § 38-129 (1993 and Supp. 1998) (grandparent visitation authorized under certain circumstances if a substantial relationship exists); N. C. Gen. Stat. §§ 50-13.2, 50-13.2A, 50-13.5 (1999) (same); Iowa Code § 598.35 (Supp. 1999) (same; visitation also authorized for great-grandparents); Wis. Stat. § 767.245 (Supp. 1999) (visitation authorized under certain circumstances for "a grandparent, greatgrandparent, stepparent or person who has maintained a relationship similar to a parent-child relationship with the child"). The statutes vary in other respects—for instance, some permit visitation petitions when there has been a change in circumstances such as divorce or death of a parent, see, e. g., N. H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 458:17-d (1992), and some apply a presumption that parental decisions should control, see, e. g., Cal. Fam. Code Ann. §§ 3104(e)-(f) (West 1994); R. I. Gen. Laws § 15-5-24.3(a)(2)(v) (Supp. 1999). Georgia's is the sole state legislature to have adopted a general harm to the child standard, see Ga. Code Ann. § 19-7- 3(c) (1999), and it did so only after the Georgia Supreme Court held the State's prior visitation statute invalid under the Federal and Georgia Constitutions, see Brooks v. Parker-son, 265 Ga. 189, 454 S. E. 2d 769, cert. denied, 516 U. S. 942 (1995).
In light of the inconclusive historical record and case law, as well as the almost universal adoption of the best interests standard for visitation disputes, I would be hard pressed to conclude the right to be free of such review in all cases is itself " 'implicit in the concept of ordered liberty.' " Glucksberg, 521 U. S., at 721 (quoting Palko v. Connecticut, 302 U. S. 319, 325 (1937)). In my view, it would be more appropriate to conclude that the constitutionality of the application of the best interests standard depends on more specific factors. In short, a fit parent's right vis-à-vis a complete
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