Family Law Commons^™

Children’S Welfare And The State’S Fiduciary Responsibility, James G. Dwyer

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Which Side Are You On?, James G. Dwyer

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

An Illiberal Union, Sonu Bedi

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

This Article breaks new ground by applying the philosophical framework of liberal neutrality (most famously articulated by John Rawls) to the United States Supreme Court’s jurisprudence on marriage. At first blush, the Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges—the culmination of marriage rights—seems to affirm a central principle of liberalism, namely equal access to marriage regardless of sexual orientation. Gays and lesbians can finally take part in an institution that celebrates the union of two committed individuals. But perversely, in its attempt to expand access to marriage, the Court has simultaneously entrenched values that are antithetical to the basic tenants …

How Subterranean Regulation Hinders Innovation In Assisted Reproductive Technology, Myrisha S. Lewis

Faculty Publications

Most scholars believe assisted reproductive technology is subject only to minimal regulation, especially by the federal government. This belief, I contend, is wrong. In this Article, I examine agency documents, statements by officials, and letters that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has sent to physicians and researchers over the past fifteen years to reveal an overlooked regulatory program. The FDA has been targeting new forms of assisted reproductive technology that involve small genetic modifications (advanced assisted reproductive technologies or AARTs) through regulatory actions that receive little public, media, or scholarly attention. I term this method of regulation “subterranean …

Ménage À What? The Fundamental Right To Plural Marriage, Renuka Santhanagopalan

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Family Justice Initiative: The Landscape Of Domestic Relations Cases In State Courts, Paula Hannaford-Agor, Lydia Hamblin, Brittney Via, Natalie Anne Knowlton

Faculty Publications

The Family Justice Initiative (FJI) Landscape study represents the first large, aggregate examination of how family court cases are litigated in the state courts. Much of the findings confirmed conventional wisdom about family court litigation, though several offered new insights into the typical domestic relations case. The study findings also raise questions both of how domestic relations cases should be managed and whether the judicial branch is still the most appropriate forum for such cases.

This report documents the caseload characteristics of domestic relations cases disposed between July 1, 2016, and June 30, 2017, across eleven large, urban courts. Three …

Mothers With Disabilities, Nicole Buonocore Porter

Faculty Publications

For the past several decades, feminist theorists have focused on the intersection of sex and other identities: race, primarily, but also religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, and ethnicity. More recently, a few scholars have begun exploring the intersection of sex and disability, highlighting the unique obstacles facing women with disabilities. This Article advances the intersectionality literature by exposing and exploring the marginalization experienced by mothers with disabilities. Specifically, this Article will explore how the stereotypes that apply to women, mothers, and individuals with disabilities, intersect to produce a particularly precarious position for mothers with disabilities in the workplace (employment law) …

Exploring The Boundaries Of Obergefell, Andrew J. Pecoraro

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Whole Foods For The Whole Pregnancy: Regulating Surrogate Mother Behavior During Pregnancy, Teresa Donaldson

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Same-Sex Parents And Their Children: Brazilian Case Law And Insights From Psychoanalysis, Helena Campos Refosco, Martha Maria Guida Fernandes

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

This Article argues that maternal and paternal functions can be performed by same-sex parents from a psychological point of view. Consequently, the legal recognition of their relationship with their children meets the principle of human dignity pursuant to the Brazilian Federal Constitution.

Abortion, Moral Law, And The First Amendment: The Conflict Between Fetal Rights & Freedom Of Religion, Barbara Pfeffer Billauer

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

The status of abortion as murder, and therefore amenable to governmental intervention and criminalization, has been asserted by those favoring limits on abortion. Opponents claim a superior right of privacy and/or equality exists under the Constitution, vesting in a woman the right to decide activities and actions that affect her physical corpus. The claimed interest of a State to protect the fetus is impliedly based on the concept of “morality” or “natural law,” specifically on the premise that feticide is violative of the basic code of conduct of societal norms. To my knowledge, until now, this is the first investigation …

Criminalizing Substance Abuse And Undermining Roe V. Wade: The Tension Between Abortion Doctrine And The Criminalization Of Prenatal Substance Abuse, Myrisha S. Lewis

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

woman’s constitutional right to have an abortion. Although other scholars have criticized prenatal substance abuse prosecutions based on various constitutional and public policy arguments, the tension between prenatal substance abuse prosecutions and the Supreme Court’s abortion doctrine has not been adequately examined. I argue that prosecuting women for the crime of prenatal substance abuse punishes women for not exercising their right to an abortion and could even incentivize some women to obtain abortions in order to avoid criminal prosecution. I also examine the science underlying abortion doctrine, fetal health, and substance abuse which reveals that (1) the right to abort …

Interpretation And Re-Interpretation Of A Clause: Magna Carta And The Widow’S Quarantine, Janet Loengard

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Leave And Marriage: The Flawed Progress Of Paternity Leave In The U.S. Military, T. J. Keefe

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Retroactive Recognition Of Same-Sex Marriage For The Purposes Of The Confidential Marital Communications Privilege, Steven A. Young

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Permitting Abused Spouses To Claim The Earned Income Tax Credit In Separate Returns, Fred B. Brown

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Biology, Genetics, Nurture, And The Law: The Expansion Of The Legal Definition Of Family To Include Three Or More Legal Parents, Myrisha S. Lewis

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

How The Liberati Sabotaged Child Welfare, David Stoesz

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Project Prevention: Concept, Operation, Results And Controversies About Paying Drug Abusers To Obtain Long-Term Birth Control, Bruce A. Thyer

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

This Article describes the origins and current operation of Project Prevention, a privately-funded program that provides a payment of $300 to substance abusers who obtain long-term birth control. This practice is intended as a means to prevent the conception of babies to mothers who are prone to expose their developing child to toxic levels of alcohol or other drugs during pregnancy, likely to be unable to care for their child once born, and at risk for having their child removed from their custody by the state and placed in foster care or an adoptive home. Children born to such mothers …

The Impact Of Liberal Ideology On Child Protection Reform, Cassie Statuto Bevan

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Re-Evaluating The Criminalization Of In Utero Alcohol Exposure: A Harm-Reduction Approach, Adam J. Duso, John Stogner

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Thoughts On The Liberal Dilemma In Child Welfare Reform, Elizabeth Bartholet

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

A Liberal Dilemma: Respecting Autonomy While Also Protecting Inchoate Children From Prenatal Substance Abuse, Andrew J. Weisberg, Frank E. Vandervort

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Stanley V. Illinois’S Untold Story, Josh Gupta-Kagan

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Stanley v. Illinois is one of the Supreme Court’s more curious landmark cases. The holding is well known: the Due Process Clause both prohibits states from removing children from the care of unwed fathers simply because they are not married and requires states to provide all parents with a hearing on their fitness. By recognizing strong due process protections for parents’ rights, Stanley reaffirmed Lochner-era cases that had been in doubt and formed the foundation of modern constitutional family law. But Peter Stanley never raised due process arguments, so it has long been unclear how the Court reached this decision. …

Child Protection’S Parental Preference, Daniel Heimpel

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Why The American Child Welfare System Is Not Child Centered, Richard J. Gelles

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Diagnosing Liberal Resistance To Needed Child Welfare Reforms, James G. Dwyer

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

A Child-Centered View Of Foster Parenting By Same-Sex Couples, James G. Dwyer

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Naiming The States Where Loving Will Be Recognized: On Tea Leaves, Horizontal Federalism, And Same-Sex Marriage, Mark Strasser

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Digging Beneath The Equality Language: The Influence Of The Fathers’ Rights Movement On Intimate Partner Violence Public Policy Debates And Family Law Reform, Kelly Alison Behre

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

In 2004, a fathers’ rights group formed in West Virginia to promote “Truth, Justice, and Equality in Family Law.” They created a media campaign including billboards and radio spots warning about the dangers of false allegations of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse, even offering a $10,000 award to anyone who could prove false allegations of abuse were used against a parent in a custody case. In 2007, they released a study concluding that seventy-six percent of protection order cases were unnecessary or based on false allegations, and warned that protection orders were often filed to gain leverage in …