Professor Joslin Helps Draft Amicus Briefs in Same-sex Marriage and Parenting Cases
Professor Courtney Joslin worked with a group of family law and child welfare professors to draft an amicus brief for Massachusetts v. HHS, a case challenging the section of the Defense of Marriage Act that defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman for all federal purposes. On June 31, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled that the section was unconstitutional, setting up a likely U.S. Supreme Court review.
Professor Joslin also participated in drafting an amicus brief in Bani Chatterjee v. Taya King, in which the New Mexico Supreme Court held that a same-sex partner who co-parented a child born to her partner can be found to be a legal parent of the child even in the absence of an adoption and even in the absence of a biological connection.
Professor Joslin is a scholar in the field of family and relationship recognition, with a particular focus on same-sex and non-marital couples.