In all that is decent . . . in all that is just, the framers of our Constitution could never have intended that the "enjoyment of life" meant that if divorce came, it was to be attended by throwing the two unfortunates and their children into a judicial arena, with lawyers as their seconds, and have them tear and verbally slash at each other in a trial by emotional conflict that may go on in perpetuity. We have been humane enough to outlaw cockfights, dogfights and bullfights; and yet, we do nothing about the barbarism of divorce fighting, and trying to find ways to end it. We concern ourselves with cruelty to animals, and rightfully so, but we are unconcerned about the forced and intentionally perpetrated cruelty inflicted upon the emotionally distressed involved in divorce. We abhor police beating confessions out of alleged criminals, and yet we cheer and encourage lawyers to emotionally beat up and abuse two innocent people and their children, because their marriage has floundered. Somewhere along the line, our sense of values, decency, humanism and justice went off the track.

From a Petition for a Writ of Certiorari submitted to the Supreme Court of the United States of America by Cleveland, Ohio, attorney Sanford J. Berger on behalf of a divorced client's request for protection from cruel and unusual punishment (associated with penalties suffered in divorce litigation) as guaranteed by the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

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December 3, 1998