BRITNEY IS NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO NEEDS FREEING.

• Author: Ciaramella, C.J.
• Position: CIVIL LIBERTIES - Britney Spears

FREEBRITNEY HAS BECOME a rallying cry of people who support Britney Spears' efforts to end a court-appointed conservatorship that had imposed nearly absolute control over the pop singer's life for 13 years.

A court granted Spears' father control over her personal affairs and her considerable assets in 2008, after an apparent mental break. This year Spears asked a judge to release her from the conservatorship, complaining that her conservators would not let her have a birth-control device removed, that she had no say over her grueling tour schedule, and that she was not even allowed to choose her own attorney.

"It makes no sense whatsoever for the state of California to sit back and literally watch me with their own two eyes, making a living for so many people and paying so many people, trucks and buses on tour, on the road with me, and be told I'm not good enough," Spears said at a June 23 hearing.

Spears' plight captured the nation's attention. The arc of her public persona, from teen superstar to punchline to resurgent icon to victim of the legal system, made clear that behind the music videos is an individual who wants what every adult wants: the freedom to make her own decisions and to enjoy the fruits of her labor. "I just want my life back," she said.

While Spears' case is the most high-profile example of alleged conservator abuse, there are similar stories from all over the country. In 2017, The New Yorker published an expose that described how the elderly lose their autonomy, and a lifetime of accumulated wealth, to court-appointed...