AUSTIN, Texas — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has joined the #FreeBritney movement.
Sens. Cruz and Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) held a hearing on Tuesday titled "Toxic Conservatorship: The Need for Reform."
The hearing comes after months of headlines swirling around pop star Britney Spears and her father, who recently announced he would be ending his conservatorship over Spears following national attention and criticism.
"Every so often, an individual case of injustice captures the nation's attention," Cruz said on Tuesday. "That's what has happened with Britney Spears and conservatorships. It seems the legal system has been designed not for her benefit, but to trample on her rights. #FreeBritney"
A conservatorship is a legal arrangement that occurs when a person is determined to have a weakened capacity to make decisions about their own personal affairs or property management. It allows a court to transfer the person's individual rights to make decisions to a conservator or guardian. They are most commonly granted in cases that affect the elderly, those with disabilities and youth.
Spears' case was thrust into the spotlight this year following documentaries highlighting the case. She entered her conservatorship in 2008, after which, numerous reports surfaced about Spears becoming isolated from friends and family, financially exploited, spied upon, medicated against her will and denied access to her children.
"Spears was originally forced into the conservatorship while still in the hospital after being involuntarily hospitalized the day before," Sen. Cruz's website states. "Since 2008, there have not been consistent check-ins to reevaluate the conservatorship. The psychiatrist who originally provided the declaration for her lack of mental fitness has said he did not know why she still has a conservatorship, and it is clear her father, Jamie, and other members of her team have a financial incentive to keep Spears in the arrangement."
Spears' father filed to end the conservatorship earlier this month after previously announcing plans in August.
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