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86 Tul. L. Rev. 1359 (2011-2012)

handle is hein.journals/tulr86 and id is 1371 raw text is: With Adar v Smith, the Fifth Circuit Opens a Hole in the Full Faith and Credit Clause I. OVERVIEW ................................... .....1 359 II. BACKGROUND ................................ .....1 360 III. THE CouRT's DECISION ........................ ...... 1364 IV ANALYSIS .. ............................................ 1368 A. The Full Faith and Credit Clause Is Enforceable Against Nonjudicial State Actors................ 1368 B The Full Faith and Credit Clause Confers Rights Enforceable Under § 1983............. ......1369 C The Registrar Denied Full Faith and Credit to the Adoption Decree. .........................1371 D The Fifth Circuit Inappropnately Ruled on Plaintiffs'Equal Protection Claim ................ 1371 I. OVERVIEW Infant J was an adoption success story.' Well, almost. Mickey Smith and Oren Adar, an unmarried gay couple from New York, successfully adopted Infant J in 2006.2 However, when the couple requested from the Registrar of Vital Records and Statistics for the State of Louisiana, the child's birth state, a revised birth certificate naming the two men as the parents of the child, they were met with a rejection.! Adar and Smith presented their final adoption decree from New York as required, and according to Louisiana reissuance law, the Registrar was required to issue a revised birth certificate listing the adoptive parents upon a showing of a proper out-of-state decree.' However, Darlene Smith, Louisiana's Registrar, refused the couple's request based on the state's adoption law, which stipulates only married parents may jointly adopt a child.! From the Registrar's position, only married couples could be jointly listed on an adopted child's birth certificate.! She did, however, offer to list either Adar or Smith on 1. Adar v. Smith, 639 E3d 146, 149 (5th Cir. 2011) (en banc), cert. dcnie4 132 S. Ct. 400 (2011). 2. Id. 3. Id. 4. Id.; LA. REv. STAT. ANN. § 40:76 (2011). 5. Adar, 639 E3d at 149-50; LA. CHILD. CODE ANN. art. 1221 (2011). 6. Adar, 639 E3d at 149-50. 1359

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