United States Supreme Court Stays Alabama Opinion Refusing to Recognize Adoption

Professor Ruthann Robson, City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law

The United States Supreme Court today issued a simple Order staying the mandate of the Alabama Supreme Court's controversial denial of full faith and credit to a Georgia adoption of three children by a member of a same-sex couple in V.L. v. E.L.   Recall that the Supreme Court of Alabama's opinion, reversing the lower courts, relied primarily on a dissent from the Georgia Supreme Court in another case.

Today's Order reads in full:

The applications for recall and stay of the Supreme Court of Alabama’s Certificate of Judgment, in case No. 1140595, presented to Justice Thomas and by him referred to the Court, are granted pending the disposition of the petition for a writ of certiorari. Should the petition for a writ of certiorari be denied, this stay shall terminate automatically. In the event the petition for a writ of certiorari is granted, the stay shall terminate upon the issuance of the mandate of this Court.

It is clearly not a ruling on the merits.  Whether or not it provides an indication that the Court will grant the petition for writ of certiorari is speculative. 

Nevertheless, this controversy is reminiscent of previous controversies involving the Alabama Supreme Court - - - whose Chief Justice is Roy Moore  (pictured above) - - - and the state courts' interpretation of same-sex marriage as opposed to the United States Supreme Court.