A judge ruled to extend the highly controversial conservatorship that Britney Spears has been living under for at least another six months. The decision comes after Britney filed paperwork asking that her father Jamie be removed as her sole conservator.
The American Civil Liberties Union is now offering to help her regain her freedom.
You can read a bit about their perspective on the situation [via the excerpt from their website] below.
We don’t know if Britney Spears identifies herself as a person with disabilities, or what, if any, diagnoses she has received. But by virtue of being under a conservatorship, we know that the court has determined that she is disabled, and has stripped away her civil rights because of that disability. So it’s inherently a civil rights/civil liberties issue.
What we don’t know is what the info the court had, what Britney has said about what she wants specifically, what other options have been tried, or what her lawyers have said. So while it’s possible that this is an example of a thoughtful conservatorship that was implemented as the last resort and is being reviewed carefully, thoroughly, and regularly, that is not the norm for conservatorships, and it appears inconsistent with what we see of Britney publicly. Our view is that in general, conservatorships should be viewed with skepticism and used as a last resort. In most cases, it’s done routinely and without substantive engagement.