The Supreme Court on Tuesday announced
without comment that it would not hear the gay adoption case of Oren
Adar and Mickey Ray Smith, Courthouse
News reported.
The decision means the end of the road
for the gay couple's fight to be listed as parents on the Louisiana
birth certificate of their adopted six-year-old son, identified in
court documents only as “J.C.”
According to Louisiana law, only
married couples may jointly adopt a child. Unmarried couples must
choose a single-parent adoption. The law disproportionately affects
gay and lesbian couples, who are banned from marring in Louisiana.
The boy's mother gave Adar and Smith
custody of baby “J.C.,” who was born in Louisiana, and they
adopted him in New York state while living in Connecticut in 2006.
Paul Smith, an attorney for the couple,
argued that his clients were being treated differently based on their
marital status.
The full 5th Circuit in
April ruled against a lower court's finding that the state had
violated the couple's constitutional rights under the Full Faith and
Credit Clause.
The majority decision, now affirmed by
the Supreme Court, says Louisiana law “attempts neither to
encourage marriage nor to discourage behavior deemed immoral … but
rather to ensure stable environments for adopted children.”