Nov 10
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U.S. Supreme Court Refuses Crucial Appeal in Lisa Miller Custody Case
LifeSiteNews.com – November 9, 2010
U.S. Supreme Court Refuses Crucial Appeal in Lisa Miller Custody Case
By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court has turned down an appeal in the case of a former lesbian who has lost custody of her daughter to her ex-partner. The appeal sought to overturn the recent decision by the Vermont Supreme Court to uphold a lower court decision transferring custody of eight-year-old Isabella Miller from her biological mother, Lisa Miller, to her mother’s former lesbian partner, Janet Jenkins. Lisa Miller’s attorneys had requested that the Vermont Supreme Court examine the issue of Miller’s constitutional rights as a parent. However, both the Vermont courts and now the Supreme Court have refused to carry out such a review.
The custody transfer was ordered after a Vermont judge declared that Janet Jenkins was a “parent” of Isabella Miller and required Lisa Miller to allow Jenkins unsupervised visits with Miller’s daughter. Isabella was conceived through artificial insemination, and was never adopted by Jenkins. Miller had left Jenkins in 2003 after a relationship she characterized as “abusive,” and had returned to her childhood faith in Jesus Christ. After her daughter showed signs of emotional trauma following visits, Miller refused to permit further contact with Jenkins. Despite testimony from experts regarding the trauma suffered by Isabella following visits with Jenkins, the Vermont courts repeatedly ruled that Miller must allow unsupervised visitations. Finally, after one of several missed visits, Vermont judge Richard Cohen transferred custody to Jenkins in November of 2009.