Henderson v. Box

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Henderson v. Box
Seal of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.svg
Court United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Full case nameAshlee and Ruby Henderson et al. v. Kristina Box
DecidedJanuary 17, 2020
Case history
Appealed from United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana
Appealed to Supreme Court of the United States
Court membership
Judge(s) sitting Joel Flaum, Frank Easterbrook, Diane Sykes
Case opinions
Decision by Frank Easterbrook, joined by unanimous

Henderson v. Box was a case in which the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled that Indiana must list same-sex parents on their child's birth certificate. The case was brought before the court by eight lesbian couples from Indiana who conceived through artificial insemination. [1]

Contents

Background

While Indiana began allowing same-sex couples to marry in 2015 following the Supreme Court's ruling on Obergefell v. Hodges , the Indiana Department of Vital Records refused to list same-sex spouses on their children' birth certificates. [2] Indiana's birth certificate system would not list the birth mother's wife's name unless they adopted their children [3] and children of same-sex parents would be deemed to have been born "out of wedlock". [4] Married opposite-sex couples with children are granted "presumption of parenthood", wherein the husband of the mother is assumed to be the child's father. [5] This presumption of parenthood was not extended to non-biological parents and non-birth mothers. [6]

Eight lesbian couples who conceived children through sperm donation filed a lawsuit to have both parents listed on their children's birth certificates. [1] [2] In 2016, the federal District Court for the Southern District of Indiana ordered the state to place the spouses of people who gave birth on their children's birth certificate, regardless of the spouses' gender. [2]

Opinion of the Court

On January 17, 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit published an opinion written by Judge Easterbrook confirming that Indiana's parentage system discriminated against same-sex parents. The Court held that the rules violated the precedent established in Obergefell v. Hodges and Pavan v. Smith . [3] The Court affirmed the district court's decision by acknowledging Indiana's refusal to recognize both married parents as unconstitutional under the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. [7]

Supreme Court appeal

In June 2020, Indiana's Attorney General Curtis Hill filed a petition to the Supreme Court, requesting it to review the federal appeals court's ruling. [8] In November, he filed a brief, making a case for the reversal of the court's decision. [9] In December, the Supreme Court declined to take up the case, in what was deemed a victory for LGBTQ families. [6]

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James Obergefell is an American civil rights activist who was the lead plaintiff in the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage throughout the United States. Obergefell had sued the state of Ohio in 2013, due to the state's lack of legal recognition of Obergefell's marriage to his husband, John Arthur (1967–2013). Obergefell was the Democratic nominee for the 89th legislative district of the Ohio House of Representatives in the 2022 elections.

References

  1. 1 2 Manzari, Ray (December 16, 2020). "Supreme Court Upholds Marriage Equality". Out Front Magazine . Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 Vasquez, Christopher. "Henderson v. Box". National Center for Lesbian Rights. Retrieved June 28, 2022.
  3. 1 2 Stern, Mark Joseph (January 17, 2020). "After 32 Month Delay, 7th Circuit Affirms Equal Rights for Same-Sex Parents". Slate. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  4. ↑ Stern, Mark Joseph (January 9, 2020). "Why Has a Federal Appeals Court Been Sitting on a Major Case for 32 Months?". Slate. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  5. ↑ Vedder, James J.; Miller, Brittney M. (April 1, 2018). "Presumptions in Paternity Cases: Who Is the Father in the Eyes of the Law?". American Bar Association. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  6. 1 2 "In 'victory' for LGBTQ families, Supreme Court denies Indiana birth certificate case". NBC News. December 14, 2020. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  7. ↑ Symdigital. "U. S. Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Challenge to Same-Sex Parent Birth Certificates: Box v. Henderson". DeWitt LLP. Retrieved June 28, 2022.
  8. ↑ "Indiana asks high court to review birth certificate ruling". Associated Press News. June 20, 2020. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  9. ↑ "Gay parents shouldn't both be on child's birth certificate, Indiana AG argues". NBC News. November 30, 2020. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
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