Last week in Family Law we covered the case of Adoption of Baby Girl, the 2013 South Carolina case that pitted the tribal rights of Native Americans to restore their families against adoptive parents. In an opinion returning the 4 year old back to the adoptive parents after living for 2 years with her father on his tribe's reservation, Justice Sonya Sotomayor dissented to that ruling with a thorough analysis of why children need to be connected to their natural parents.
This summer in Obergefell v. Hodges, however, Justice Sotomayor found with the majority that natural parents of a child are not as important as she so eloquently stated in 2013, but that rights of individual parents seem to trump a child's best interests in having a relationship with her biological parents. This week, Professor Adam MacLeod discussed this at Public Discourse. Prof. MacLeod recently published an article on Obergefell v. Hodges with the Regent University Law Review and has recorded a Video Law Review on that piece.
Justice Sotomayor understands the importance of the best interests of the child in one context, but not necessarily in the context of marriage expansion. There she seems to prefer what’s best for adults’ individual choices in marriage, and the kids will be better for that. Children thrive when they are raised by their mom and dad. This concrete foundation for children restores families. Will the real Justice Sotomayor please stand up?
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