Finstuen v. Crutcher
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| Finstuen v. Crutcher | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Court | United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit |
| Full case name | Finstuen v. Crutcher |
| Decided | August 3, 2007 |
| Citation | 496 F.3d 1139 (10th Cir. 2007) |
| Holding | |
| A state law prohibiting recognition of adoption decrees granted by an out-of-state court to two parents in a same-sex relationship violates the Full Faith and Credit Clause. United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma affirmed. | |
| Court membership | |
| Judges sitting | Harris L. Hartz, David M. Ebel, and Terrence O'Brien |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | David M. Ebel, joined by Terrence O'Brien |
| Concur/dissent | Harris L. Hartz |
Finstuen v. Crutcher, 496 F.3d 1139 (10th Cir. 2007), is a case decided by the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit that ordered Oklahoma to recognize an adoption of a child by a same-sex couple ordered by another state's court. In a 2-1 decision, the Court of Appeals affirmed the order of the District Court directing Oklahoma to issue a revised birth certificate for a child legally adopted in California, though born in Oklahoma, to recognize the adoption of the same-sex couple. This was one of the earliest federal court rulings in the United States to address adoption by same-sex couples.
Three same-sex couples each adopted a child in another state that had been born in Oklahoma, one in Washington, New Jersey and California. One of those couples had managed to get the Oklahoma State Department of Health to issue a birth certificate listing both men as parents of the child. The state legislature passed a law one month later voiding any future recognition of out-of-state adoptions of same-sex couples. The plaintiffs then brought their suit in district court.