California Appellate Tracker

Pavan v. Smith

July 5, 2017

A state cannot refuse to list two same sex spouses as the two parents on their child’s birth certificate.

Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) 135 S.Ct. 2584 prohibits states from denying same sex couples the rights, benefits and responsibilities of marriage allowed to opposite sex couples. This decision holds that the decision bars Arkansas from refusing to list the other same sex spouse as the “husband” on a child’s birth certificate, particularly as the state requires the mother’s then-husband to be listed as “father” even if he is not the child’s biological father.

United States Supreme Court (per curiam; Gorsuch, Thomas, & Alito, JJ., dissenting); June 26, 2017; 2017 WL 2722472

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Pavan v. Smith

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