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Kevin Cathcart, Executive Director
Kevin M. Cathcart
Executive Director
"U.S. Constitution requires states to honor the court orders and judgments of other states – including adoptions – and there should be no 'gay exception' to this principle."
From March 2010 eNews (Vol.7, No. 3)
We want Oren Adar and Mickey Smith's son to have a proper birth certificate with both his fathers' names on it so he can enroll in pre-school this fall. Lambda Legal went to court to fight for it, and we won twice – first at the federal trial court level and then before a panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Now the Louisiana Attorney General is seeking a re-hearing before the full Court of Appeals and once again preventing the state from issuing a birth certificate. This fight is not over.
There are two vital issues at stake: First, no child should face discrimination and unfair treatment because some state officials disapprove of the child’s parents. Second, the U.S. Constitution requires states to honor the court orders and judgments of other states – including adoptions – and there should be no "gay exception" to this principle.
This is why we do impact litigation – it can bring the authority of the U.S. Constitution to the defense of a little boy and his fathers. When we win, we can fix a problem while making a very big point.
A panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously on February 18 that the "full faith and credit" clause of the Constitution requires the State of Louisiana to honor the adoption granted by the courts in New York, upholding the victory we won in 2008 at the trial court. State governments do not get to pick and choose which court orders and judgments they like and which they do not. They do not get to “undo” the judgments of other states and impose different – and in this case, discriminatory – rules. It’s a constitutional principle that holds our republic together: Legal agreements and arrangements ordered by courts do not dissolve when the parties cross state lines.
Lambda Legal fought for this same principle in Oklahoma, and we won there in 2007. In that case, the State of Oklahoma itself had passed a law so extreme that it would have nullified any adoptions obtained by same-sex couples in other states and would have rendered children of same-sex parents orphans if they entered the state. In a case called Finstuen v. Edmondson, we challenged the law and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit struck it down.
With Lambda Legal at their side, Adar and Smith started this fight for their son’s birth certificate when he was an infant. The family lives in Florida now. On the day the Court of Appeals ruled in their favor, they were enrolling their son in pre-school where they were asked to provide a birth certificate. They need the State of Louisiana to issue it because that is where their son was born. But Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell does not think that two gay men should be fathers. And now, after two federal courts have told him that his state does not have the right to ignore a legal adoption from another state – just because he has a prejudice against same-sex parents – he still refuses to follow the law.
That's a violation of the Constitution, and it’s unfair to a little boy and his fathers. Lambda Legal is continuing the fight for this family, and for all of us.
Kevin M. Cathcart
Executive Director
"U.S. Constitution requires states to honor the court orders and judgments of other states – including adoptions – and there should be no 'gay exception' to this principle."
From March 2010 eNews (Vol.7, No. 3)
We want Oren Adar and Mickey Smith's son to have a proper birth certificate with both his fathers' names on it so he can enroll in pre-school this fall. Lambda Legal went to court to fight for it, and we won twice – first at the federal trial court level and then before a panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Now the Louisiana Attorney General is seeking a re-hearing before the full Court of Appeals and once again preventing the state from issuing a birth certificate. This fight is not over.
There are two vital issues at stake: First, no child should face discrimination and unfair treatment because some state officials disapprove of the child’s parents. Second, the U.S. Constitution requires states to honor the court orders and judgments of other states – including adoptions – and there should be no "gay exception" to this principle.
This is why we do impact litigation – it can bring the authority of the U.S. Constitution to the defense of a little boy and his fathers. When we win, we can fix a problem while making a very big point.
A panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously on February 18 that the "full faith and credit" clause of the Constitution requires the State of Louisiana to honor the adoption granted by the courts in New York, upholding the victory we won in 2008 at the trial court. State governments do not get to pick and choose which court orders and judgments they like and which they do not. They do not get to “undo” the judgments of other states and impose different – and in this case, discriminatory – rules. It’s a constitutional principle that holds our republic together: Legal agreements and arrangements ordered by courts do not dissolve when the parties cross state lines.
Lambda Legal fought for this same principle in Oklahoma, and we won there in 2007. In that case, the State of Oklahoma itself had passed a law so extreme that it would have nullified any adoptions obtained by same-sex couples in other states and would have rendered children of same-sex parents orphans if they entered the state. In a case called Finstuen v. Edmondson, we challenged the law and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit struck it down.
With Lambda Legal at their side, Adar and Smith started this fight for their son’s birth certificate when he was an infant. The family lives in Florida now. On the day the Court of Appeals ruled in their favor, they were enrolling their son in pre-school where they were asked to provide a birth certificate. They need the State of Louisiana to issue it because that is where their son was born. But Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell does not think that two gay men should be fathers. And now, after two federal courts have told him that his state does not have the right to ignore a legal adoption from another state – just because he has a prejudice against same-sex parents – he still refuses to follow the law.
That's a violation of the Constitution, and it’s unfair to a little boy and his fathers. Lambda Legal is continuing the fight for this family, and for all of us.
What precedents are there in our country's history that politicians can legally disregard court rulings?
ACK!
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