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Washington, DC – The U.S. Supreme Court refused to review an important case involving natural marriage and family, thus allowing the federal court of appeals decision to stand. The case involved unmarried same-sex partners who unsuccessfully sued to change an adopted boy’s birth certificate to state that the child had two fathers. The ruling by the en banc (16 judges) Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals stated that two same-sex partners from New York who adopted a Louisiana-born infant could not force Louisiana to change the birth certificate to state that the child had two “dads.” This decision is a big victory for natural family and for states to protect marriage and family. Liberty Counsel filed an amicus brief in the case.

Mickey Smith and Oren Adar, an unmarried same-sex male couple, adopted a Louisiana-born infant in New York in 2006. They sought to have the child’s birth certificate reissued in Louisiana, replacing the names of his biological parents with their own. The registrar refused the request, taking the position that “adoptive parents” means married parents, because in Louisiana only married couples may jointly adopt a child. Adar and Smith sued the registrar, claiming that her decision denies full faith and credit to the NY adoption decree and violates their equal protection guarantees.

After concluding that the two men should have brought their case in state, rather than federal, court, the federal court of appeals discussed the Full Faith and Credit Clause. Tracing a long line of Supreme Court cases, the court explained that while Louisiana cannot re-litigate whether the two properly adopted the child, the state is not required to enforce the adoption contrary to Louisiana law. Thus, the court ruled “the full faith and credit clause does not oblige Louisiana to confer particular benefits on unmarried parents contrary to its law.”

This ruling affirms the distinction between “recognizing” the existence of an out-of-state order versus “enforcing” the out-of-state order on a state in which it conflicts with the state’s law. In other words, one state that allows same-sex marriage or same-sex adoption cannot force another state to enforce such an out-of-state law or order against its own law.

Mathew Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, commented: “This decision is a big victory against the relentless efforts of activists to export same-sex unions to states that affirm the mother-father paradigm for family. The Full Faith and Credit Clause can no longer be used as a club to force states to redefine marriage and the family.”

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