Jeffrey Lee Chafin, Petitioner v. Lynne Hales Chafin (568 U.S. 165)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided February 19, 2013 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 568 U.S. 165 · 133 S. Ct. 1017
- Docket
- No. 11-1347
- Argued
- December 5, 2012
- Decided
- February 19, 2013
- Term
- October Term 2012
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Roberts
- Issue area
- Civil Rights
- Disposition
- Vacated and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Roberts (wrote), Justice Scalia (joined a concurrence), Justice Kennedy, Justice Thomas, Justice Ginsburg (wrote a concurrence), Justice Breyer (joined a concurrence), Justice Alito, Justice Sotomayor, Justice Kagan
Oral argument transcript and advocates · Opinion on Justia
Opinion excerpt
Chief Justice Roberts delivered the opinion of the Court. The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction generally requires courts in the United States to order children returned to their countries of habitual residence, if the courts find that the children have been wrongfully removed to or retained in the United States. The question is whether, after a child is returned pursuant to such an order, any appeal of the order is moot. I A The Hague Conference on Private International Law adopted the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction in 1980. T. I. A. S. No. 11670, S. Treaty Doc. No. 99-11. In 1988, the United States ratified the treaty and passed implementing legislation, known as the International Child Abduction Remedies Act (ICARA), 102 Stat. 437, 42 U. S. C. § 11601 et seq. See generally Abbott v. Abbott, 560 U. S. 1, 8-9 (2010). The Convention seeks “to secure the prompt return of children wrongfully removed to or retained in any Contracting State” and “to ensure that rights of custody and of access under the law of one Contracting State are effectively respected in the other Contracting States.” Art. 1, S. Treaty Doc. No. 99-11, at 7. Article 3 of the Convention provides that the “removal or the retention of a child is to be considered wrongful” when “it is in breach of rights of custody attributed to a…
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