Monasky v. Taglieri
U.S. Supreme Court · decided February 25, 2020 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Decided
- February 25, 2020
- Term
- October Term 2019
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Ginsburg
- Issue area
- Civil Rights
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Unspecifiable
Opinion excerpt
Justice GINSBURG delivered the opinion of the Court. Under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (Hague Convention or Convention), Oct. 25, 1980, T. I. A. S. No. 11670, S. Treaty Doc. No. 99-11 (Treaty Doc.), a child wrongfully removed from her country of "habitual residence" ordinarily must be returned to that country. This case concerns the standard for determining a child's "habitual residence" and the standard for reviewing that determination on appeal. The petitioner, Michelle Monasky, is a U.S. citizen who brought her infant daughter, A.M.T., to the United States from Italy after her Italian husband, Domenico Taglieri, became abusive to Monasky. Taglieri successfully petitioned the District Court for A.M.T.'s return to Italy under the Convention, and the Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court's order. Monasky assails the District Court's determination that Italy was A.M.T.'s habitual residence. First of the questions presented: Could Italy qualify as A.M.T.'s "habitual residence" in the absence of an actual agreement by her parents to raise her there? The second question: Should the Court of Appeals have reviewed the District Court's habitual-residence determination independently rather than deferentially? In accord with decisions of the courts of other countries party to the Convention, we hold that a child's habitual…
Excerpt of a 44,954-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.