Two members of US Congress are calling for an investigation into the use of conservatorships in the the States, off the back of recent Britney Spears documentary 'Framing Britney Spears'.
Matt Gaetz and Jim Jordan are calling on House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler to hold hearings on the subject "to examine whether Americans are trapped unjustly in conservatorships". In a letter to Nadler, they say that there is "growing public concern about the use of conservatorships to effectively deprive individuals of personal freedoms", with Spears being the "most striking example".
"There are countless other Americans unjustly stripped of their freedoms by others with little recourse", they go on. "Given the constitutional freedoms at stake and opaqueness of these arrangements, it is incumbent upon our Committee to convene a hearing to examine whether Americans are trapped unjustly in conservatorships".
In a statement, Gaetz added: "If the conservatorship process can rip the agency from a woman who was in the prime of her life and one of the most powerful pop stars in the world, imagine what it can do to people who are less powerful and have less of a voice".
Spears, of course, has been held in a conservatorship since 2008, with no control over her personal and financial affairs, after her father was appointed by a court as his daughter's conservator following her very public breakdown. However, in recent years there have been increasing calls from fans to release Spears from that system.
More have joined those calls during the well publicised legal battle between the musician and her father as he has sought to regain sole control of her financial affairs following some temporary changes that were made to the conservatorship when he had to temporarily stand down due to ill health. That move was knocked back by the court overseeing the case last month.
The #FreeBritney movement received a boost earlier in February with that new documentary, ‘Framing Britney Spears’, made by the New York Times and aired on FX and Hulu. The film looks at Britney's treatment in and by the media, and also examines the conservatorship system.