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LOS ANGELES TIMES
MAY 16, 1996
The Court That Cut the Baby in Half
By Dennis Prager
There is an anger brewing in this country at this moment. It
is not politically inspired, it knows no right and left, just
right and wrong. But if it is not dealt with, we run the risk
of a massive loss of faith in American Justice. It is the taking
of 4-year-old Richard from his family by order of the Illinois
Supreme Court.
If America is in decay, it is not the Oklahoma City bombing that
future generations will regard as our generation's symbol of
this decay. As evil as the bombing was, what matters is that
the government and citizens were repulsed by it. Every society
has evil within it. What distinguishes civilized from less-civilized
societies is the way in which its leadership acts. What most
signified the descent of Germany into evil was not the presence
of Nazis in the streets; it was the presence of Nazis on its
judicial benches. When judges do evil, society is doomed.
History will note that in the state of Illinois in April of 1995,
judges Supreme Court judges; committed evil. They didn't merely
make a mistake or take a controversial stand. They actually did
evil. They destroyed a perfectly innocent child's life in the
name of law.
On April 30, a 4-year-old boy was taken from the only parents
he ever had, from his brother, the only sibling he ever had,
from the only home and room he ever had, and given over to a
man whom he has never seen, solely because that man's sperm helped
conceive this child.
This was not some wrenchingly difficult decision between two
competing rights. Two lower courts in Illinois had no trouble
ruling in favor of the child. It is clear to anyone who doesn't
believe that blood Is more important than all else that this
child loved his parents and that they loved him, and that this,
not connection to a sperm donor, is what children need. But five
members of the Illinois Supreme Court overruled the two lower
courts and against elementary common sense. It is common sense
that you don't take a 4-year-old from his family, isn't it?
A famous ancient Hebrew tale relates that King Solomon was confronted
by two women, each claiming to be the mother of a baby. The wise
king ruled that the child be cut in half and each mother be given
one of the halves. One woman agreed. The other asked that the
baby be given to the other woman.
Clearly, this woman loved the child far more, and it was to her
that King Solomon awarded the child. The judges in Illinois ruled
the opposite: Give the child to the party that would cut the
child in half.
The pastor of Richard's church, the Rev. Fred Ade, said, "When
he was carried off to that van, it was the worst experience I
have ever had in my life. I have buried children from gunshot
wounds. This was worse."
That is why this case is not disappearing. Too many Americans
go to sleep every night thinking about Richard, frightened for
him and his family. For the first time in my life, I am also
frightened of the power of the state. We have witnessed a legal
kidnapping.
Most Americans value love far more than blood. Certainly the
supreme courts of New Mexico and Colorado do. In its decision
to keep a little boy with his adoptive parents, even though it
found that the biological father's rights had been improperly
denied, the New Mexico court wrote, "We are directed to
do otherwise [than the Illinois court] not only by the letter
of the law but also compassion for the people involved." And
in a swipe at the five justices in Illinois, the Colorado Supreme
Court wrote, "In controversies affecting the custody of
an infant, the interest and welfare of the child is the primary
and controlling question."
The legal community thinks the ruling is a farce, but needs to
do more than simply feel embarrassed. Coupled with widespread
contempt at the defense's tactics in the O.J. Simpson's trial,
there is a widespread feeling in America that the American judicial
system has little to do with justice.
It is just too sad that the parents of this child believed in
the American judicial system and thought that a legal adoption
was binding. It's a shame they believed two courts' rulings on
the child's behalf would be enough In America. They should have
left the country with their child the moment it looked like they
would take a 4-year-old boy away from his family.
In addition to ruining a family, the lasting legacy of those
who sat on the Illinois Supreme Court in 1995 will be a decreased
belief in our judicial system. And as judges in a past generation
who ruled that blacks were not fully human entered history infamously,
so, too, the judges who have ruled children are not fully human
will have guaranteed their: lasting notoriety.
For our foundering society's sake, for the sake of children and
for that poor boy and his family in Chicago, let us pray that
the men and women of the U. S. Supreme Court decide to hear this
case. The two United States Senators' from Illinois, both Democrats,
and the Illinois governor, a Republican, have filed a friend
of the court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court. It is not an
exaggeration to say that alongside the fate of a 4-year-old boy
and his family, the reputation of American law is at stake. |
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