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Posts Tagged ‘V.L. v. E.L.’

Supreme Court Orders Full-Faith and Credit for Lesbian Co-Parent Adoption

Posted on: March 7th, 2016 by Art Leonard No Comments

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously reversed a decision by the Alabama Supreme Court and ordered that Alabama courts accord “full faith and credit” to a lesbian co-parent adoption that was approved by a Georgia trial court.  The March 7 decision in V.L. v. E.L., No. 15-648, was reached without any oral argument before the high court, and the opinion was issued “per curiam” without any dissent from the Court’s conservative members.

The Alabama Supreme Court’s decision in E.L. v. V.L., issued on September 18, was a shocking departure from how courts normally deal with recognition of out-of-state adoptions.  The U.S. Constitution provides that “Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State.”  Since adoptions are judicial proceedings, the Supreme Court has always taken the view that the courts of one state must honor the court rulings of other states, with a narrow exception for situations where the courts of the other state did not have authority (“jurisdiction”) to issue the ruling.

In this case, a lesbian couple living in Alabama decided to have children together.  They wanted to protect the relationship between the children and their birth mother’s partner.  Since “second-parent” adoptions were not available in Alabama, they temporarily relocated to Atlanta, Georgia, where trial judges are willing to approve such adoptions, and obtained an order from the Superior Court there.  The birth mother specifically consented to allow her partner to adopt the children with the understanding that this would not affect her own parental status.  Although Georgia’s adoption statutes do not specifically authorize such an adoption, the trial judge — as have others in the trial courts in Atlanta — found that he could approve the adoption without cutting off the birth mother’s parental status.

Then the couple moved back to Alabama.  A few years later the women separated, and the birth mother cut off her former partner’s contact with the children.  The partner filed suit in an Alabama court, seeking confirmation of the Georgia adoption and “some measure of custody or visitation rights.”  The Alabama cour recognized the adoption and awarded temporary visitation while the case was pending.  The birth mother appealed, arguing that the court should not have recognized the Georgia adoption, claiming the Georgia trial court did not have jurisdiction to approve a “second-parent” adoption.  The Alabama court of appeals rejected that argument, but the Alabama Supreme Court accepted it, in a strange decision issued on September 18 that drew a sharply-worded dissent.

The plaintiff filed an emergency petition with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to preserve her temporary visitation rights while urging reversal of the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision.  On December 14 the U.S. Supreme Court stayed the Alabama Supreme Court’s order, thus allowing continued visitation.

The Supreme Court’s March 7 action is called a summary reversal, because the Court issued a ruling on the merits of the appeal based on the petition for review filed by the plaintiff and whatever response was filed by the defendant, without calling for full briefing and oral arguments.   The speed with which the Court acted, as much as the short  opinion it issued, signaled clearly how wrong the Alabama Supreme Court ruling was.

The U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled directly on whether states are constitutionally required to allow same-sex partners to adopt in these situations, and this case did not call on the Court to make such a ruling.  Rather, the Court made clear that state courts are not entitled to second-guess how the courts of other states interpret their adoption statutes.

The Alabama Supreme Court had adopted an approach that would have gutted the requirement of full faith and credit, by asserting that if it disagreed with how a trial court in another state interpreted its adoption statute, it could find that the trial court did not have authority to render the decision and thus it was not owed full faith and credit. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected this theory out of hand.

“Where a judgment indicates on its face that it was rendered by a court of competent jurisdiction, such jurisdiction ‘is to be presumed unless disproved,’” wrote the Court, quoting one of its earlier full faith and credit decisions. “There is nothing here to rebut that presumption,” wrote the Court, pointing out that neither the Georgia Supreme Court “nor any Georgia appellate court” had construed the state’s adoption statute to limit the authority of the state’s trial courts to approve adoptions “only if each existing parent or guardian has surrendered his or her parental rights.”

Echoing the objection by the Alabama Supreme Court’s dissenting justices, the Court remarked, “Indeed, the Alabama Supreme Court’s reasoning would give jurisdictional status to every requirement of the Georgia adoption statutes, since Georgia law indicates those requirements are all mandatory and must be strictly construed. That result would comport neither with Georgia law nor common sense.”  Since the adoption judgment issued by the Superior Court “appears on its face to have been issued by a court with jurisdiction, and there is no established Georgia law to the contrary,” concluded the Court, “It follows that the Alabama Supreme Court erred in refusing to grant that judgment full faith and credit.”

This ruling came just days after the Alabama Supreme Court reluctantly threw in the towel and issue an order dismissing a pending action brought by a county clerk seeking to prolong defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court’s marriage equality ruling, Obergefell v. Hodges. A year ago, months before Obergefell was announced on June 26, a federal trial judge in Alabama ruled that the state’s ban on marriage equality was unconstitutional and ordered a local probate judge to issue marriage licenses.

The resulting controversy led to an Alabama Supreme Court decision in a case filed by some probate judges, known as In re King, rejecting the argument that the state’s ban was unconstitutional and directing probate judges not to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, with the exception of the probate judge who had been directly ordered to issue such licenses by the federal court. After the Obergefell decision was issued, the Alabama Supreme Court asked the parties in that case to submit arguments about the effect of Obergefell on its prior decision and on the obligations of the state’s probate judges regarding marriage licenses.  As time dragged on with no ruling by the Alabama court, more and more probate judges began to issue licenses, and on January 6, Chief Justice Roy Moore issued an “administrative order” directing them not to issue the licenses until the Alabama Supreme Court ruled.

On March 4, the Alabama court dismissed the case in a one-sentence order, which was accompanied by “concurring opinions” totaling 169 pages by several of the judges, most prominently Chief Justice Moore.

All of the justices agreed that the Obergefell opinion is now the governing law, but Chief Justice Moore’s “special concurrence,” running almost 100 pages, is a fervent denunciation of the Obergefell decision, echoing the views of the dissenting U.S. Supreme Court justices. The foundation of his argument is that “marriage” is an institution ordained by God and that it is beyond the scope of judicial power to “redefine” it.  Some of his colleagues, unwilling to go that far, wrote or joined separate concurrences that make more traditional legal doctrinal arguments.  None was willing to defend the Obergefell decision on the merits, but Justice Greg Shaw, a dissenter from last year’s ruling, took pains to disassociate himself from criticisms of Obergefell on the ground that the Alabama Supreme Court has nothing to say about the issue once the U.S. Supreme Court has decided a constitutional question.

Wrote Justice Shaw: “The debate over the legal and moral propriety of same-sex government marriage will certainly continue; but that debate has necessarily shifted to the court of public opinion. The issue, for all practical purposes, is now a political one.  The genius of our Founding Fathers is reflected in our constitutional form of government, which dictates that whether Obergefell stands the test of time or ultimately finds itself cast upon the trash heap of history depends upon the people of the United States, who serve as the ultimate repository of political power and whose collective voices can be heard through their elected representatives at both the federal and state levels.  If there is to be a showdown with respect to this issue, it could never have been led by this Court.  Such a showdown must pit the judicial will of the highest court in the land against the greater political will of the people of this country.”

Shaw derided as “silly” Chief Justice Moore’s continuing argument that the Obergefell decision was binding only on the four states of the 6th Circuit, whose decision the Supreme Court had reversed, and Moore’s assertion that the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling from last year upholding the state’s marriage ban is still in effect.  As far as Shaw is concerned, the probate judges are bound to comply with the order of the U.S. District Court issued last year, even before Obergefell was decided, which the trial judge had expanded to a class order running against all the probate judges in the state.

In any event, the Alabama court’s dismissal of the case leaves the probate judges without any cover for continued defiance of the federal court order, so marriage licenses should be available for same-sex couples in every county, and continued defiance could subject probate judges to contempt orders and a fate akin to that suffered by Rowan County, Kentucky, Clerk Kim Davis, who spent some time stewing in jail until she was willing to let subordinates in her office issue marriage licenses.

Lesbian Mom’s Case Closer To Supreme Court Review

Posted on: December 14th, 2015 by Art Leonard No Comments

A lesbian mother’s quest for joint custody of the children she had adopted in Georgia and raised together with her former same-sex partner took a step closer to the Supreme Court on Monday, December 14, when the Court granted her “Application for Recall and Stay of Certificate of Judgment of Alabama Supreme Court.”  V.L. v. E.L., No. 15-648.  V.L. is asking the Supreme Court to overturn a September 18 ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court, which refused to recognize the validity of the adoptions, having filed her Petition for Certiorari with the Supreme Court on November 16.

The Supreme Court justices did not explain their grant of this stay request.  They normally issue no explanations for their rulings on such applications, but, as Chief Justice John Roberts explained in 2012 in an “in chambers” ruling on such a petition (see Maryland v. King, 133 S. Ct. 1, 2 (2012)), a stay of a lower court decision while the Supreme Court is deciding whether to grant review is warranted when there is “(1) a reasonable probability that this Court will grant certiorari, (2) a fair prospect that the Court will then reverse the decision below, and (3) a likelihood that irreparable harm will result from the denial of a stay.”  The Court did state that if it denies review in this case, the stay will terminate automatically.  If it grants review, the stay will be in effect as long as the case is pending before the Supreme Court.

The Alabama Supreme Court’s refusal to recognize the Georgia adoption meant that V.L. had no legal standing to seek joint custody or visitation in the Alabama circuit court, and that the interim visitation order issued by the circuit court and affirmed by that state’s court of appeals was terminated, disrupting V.L.’s relationship with her children.  Unless the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling was stayed pending appeal, V.L. and her children could suffer a prolonged period of separation, an injury not reparable through damages or other retrospective judicial relief and thus “irreparable” for purposes of this stay application.

Perhaps more to the point, the Alabama Supreme Court’s refusal to recognize the Georgia adoption was a clear departure from the constitutional requirement that sister-state court judgments be accorded “full faith and credit.”  The Alabama court did this by opining that the Georgia trial judge had misconstrued Georgia’s adoption statute when granting the adoption and thus that court did not have “jurisdiction” (legal authority) to grant the adoption.  This is a novel twist on the concept of jurisdiction, and a clear departure from the Supreme Court’s past interpretations of the Full Faith and Credit Clause.

A dissenting Alabama Supreme Court justice argued that the ruling theoretically opened up to challenge any out-of-state adoption when a majority of the Alabama Supreme Court disagreed with how the courts of another state interpreted their adoption statute, leading to uncertainty in an area of the law where courts have traditionally stressed the need for certainty and stability – child custody.

By granting V.L.’s stay application in this case, the Supreme Court is signaling the likelihood that it will grant review and the strong possibility that it would reverse the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling, to judge by Chief Justice Roberts’ description of their decisional process.

Respondent’s briefs in opposition to review are normally due to the Court a month after a petition is filed (which would be this week), although the Court can grant a motion to extend time.  After all the briefs have been filed, the Court may schedule the petition for consideration at a private conference of the Court.  At the pace this process usually runs, a decision whether to review the case might be expected a few months down the line.  Review would normally have to be granted by mid-January for a case to be argued in this term of the Court.  Unless the justices feel particular urgency to take up this case, it might not be argued until the fall of 2016, with a decision late in 2016 or early in 2017.  The temporary stay reduces the urgency, if it means that V.L.’s temporary visitation order goes back into effect — a conclusion that is not certain until the lower Alabama courts address the scope of the stay.

V.L. is represented by the National Center for Lesbian Rights, cooperating attorneys from Jenner & Block LLP (Washington, D.C.), and local counsel Tracie Owen Vella (Vella & King) and Heather Fann (Boyd, Fernambucq, Dunn & Fann, P.C.), both of Birmingham, Alabama.  The lead Jenner & Block attorney on the case is Paul M. Smith, who argued the appeal in Lawrence v. Texas that resulted in the Supreme Court striking down laws against consensual gay sex in 2003.

Lesbian Co-Parent Seeks Expedited Supreme Court Review of Alabama Refusal to Recognize Adoption

Posted on: November 22nd, 2015 by Art Leonard No Comments

Attorneys for V.L., the adoptive mother of children born to her former same-sex partner, have asked the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) to review an erroneous decision by the Alabama Supreme Court to refuse to recognize the adoption that was approved by the Georgia Superior Court, and have also asked SCOTUS to restore her visitation rights while the appeal is pending by suspending the Alabama Supreme Court’s order in the case.  The petitions were filed on November 16.

V.L., who is represented by the National Center for Lesbian Rights and cooperating attorneys from Jenner & Block LLP (Washington, D.C.), with local counsel Traci Owen Vella and Heather Fann in Birmingham, Alabama, lived with E.L. in a seventeen-year relationship.  In May 2000 V.L. changed her last name to E.L.’s last name, and the women decided to have and raise children together.  E.L. subsequently gave birth to one child in 2002 and twins in 2004 through donor insemination.  The women played equal parental roles in raising the kids.  In order to provide more security to their legal relationship, they rented a residence in Atlanta and obtained a legal adoption from the Georgia (Fulton County) Superior Court so that V.L. would be the legal parent of the children.  The Georgia judge construed that state’s adoption law to allow second-parent adoptions without terminating the birth mother’s parental rights, as several other Georgia trial courts have also done.  So far, there is no Georgia appellate ruling against such adoptions, and the Georgia Supreme Court has not addressed the issue directly.

After the adoption, the women returned to Alabama and resumed living there are a family until the women separated and E.L. eventually cut off V.L.’s contact with the children.  V.L. registered the adoption with an Alabama court and filed an action seeking custody or visitation.  The Alabama trial and appellate courts concluded that V.L. must be recognized as an adoptive parent entitled to seek a determination of custody or visitation, with E.L. appealing every step of the way, until she won a reversal from the Alabama Supreme Court on September 18.

The lower Alabama courts correctly applied the Full Faith and Credit Clause (FFCC) of the U.S. Constitution, which requires that the courts of one state accord “full faith and credit” to the judgments issued by courts in other states.  More than a century of well-established court precedents provide that courts may not refuse to accord full faith and credit to a sister state court’s ruling because of a disagreement over the merits of that ruling.  The limited exception to full faith and credit would be cases where the court that issued the judgment did not have jurisdiction to do so, either because the court was not authorized to decide such cases or because the parties were not properly within the jurisdiction of the court.  In this case, the Georgia Superior Court had specifically concluded that it had jurisdiction over the parties and the subject matter of the case.  Indeed, Georgia statutes provide that the Superior Court has jurisdiction over all adoption proceedings.

A majority of the Alabama Supreme Court, however, departing from established constitutional precedents, decided based on its own reading of Georgia’s adoption statute that the Georgia law could not properly be construed to allow second-parent adoptions.  Even though the Georgia appellate courts have never specifically disapproved such adoptions, and courts of several other states have approved them in the context of similarly-worded adoption statutes, the Alabama court decided that the Georgia Superior Court’s departure from the Alabama Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Georgia adoption statute is a “jurisdictional” fault that justifies refusing to recognize the adoption.

This startling result drew a sharp dissent from a member of the court, who wrote that it “creates a dangerous precedent that calls into question the finality of adoptions in Alabama: Any irregularity in a probate court’s decision in an adoption would now arguably create a defect in that court’s subject matter jurisdiction.”

Petitioning SCOTUS, V.L. argued that the Alabama Supreme Court’s departure from established constitutional precedent, in general contradiction with more than a century of precedent and in direct contradiction of the Denver-based U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals’ 2007 ruling, Finstuen v. Crutcher, 496 F.3d 1139, requires a resolution of whether state courts are permitted to inquire into the merits of rulings by sister state courts in deciding whether to accord full faith and credit to those judgments, particularly in adoption cases where the result would be to interfere with family relationships that had been established and then legally ratified in completed adoption proceedings.   In the Finstuen case, the 10th Circuit invalidated an Oklahoma statute that barred recognition of same-sex couple adoptions, holding that the statute violated the obligation of Oklahoma courts under the full faith and credit clause to recognize such adoption judgments.

Under the rulings of the Alabama trial and intermediate appellate courts V.L. had been enjoying visitation rights with the children on a temporary basis while E.L. pursued her appeal.  Shortly after its ruling, the Alabama Supreme Court suspended that visitation.  In addition to her petition for review, V.L. filed a petition with SCOTUS requesting a stay of the Alabama Supreme Court order and restoring her visitation rights while this appeal is pending.  This is in accord with her argument that she is the legal adoptive parent of those children and thus is entitled to continued contact of some sort unless E.L. can show that she is unfit or poses a danger to the children.  Because of the appeals of the recognition rulings in this case, there has not yet been a determination by the Alabama trial court whether it is in the best interest of these children for their adoptive mother to have custody or visitation.  By its erroneous decision that V.L. is not a parent with standing to contest these issues, the Alabama Supreme Court has decreed that there be no inquiry into the best interest of the children — an inquiry that should be at the heart of custody and visitation decisions when parents split up.