Court rules against mom who hid daughter - too little, too late.

[Brent]

Court rules against mom who hid daughter

By GINA HOLLAND
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

WASHINGTON -- A strange custody battle between husband-and-wife surgeons that saw the woman go to jail rather than divulge her daughter's whereabouts took a twist Tuesday when a federal appeals court ruled a law passed by Congress to help the mother was unconstitutional.

Dr. Elizabeth Morgan spent two years in jail in the late 1980s for defying a court order to allow her ex-husband to visit the girl. She claimed the girl's father sexually abused the child, although the allegations never were proven.

The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia is a victory for Dr. Eric Foretich, an oral surgeon in McLean, Va. He has maintained that he never hurt his daughter and that Congress wrongly took sides in the case.

The court said that there was no proof that Foretich abused the daughter he fathered with Morgan, to whom he was married briefly. He and his parents had challenged a 1996 law that kept him from seeing the girl.

In its decision Tuesday, the court did not award damages and said it could not force his now 21-year-old daughter to visit him.

Foretich could not be reached for comment but his parents said they were pleased with the decision.

"We're happy that this wrong has been righted," said Doris Foretich, the girl's 84-year-old grandmother. "This ruling is a blessing."

Morgan, a plastic surgeon in Chevy Chase, Md., was in surgery Tuesday and not available for comment, an assistant said.

Morgan went to jail rather than allow Foretich the visits ordered by a judge in Washington, prompting books and a television movie. A special act of Congress freed her in 1989. The next year she joined her daughter, who was living with Morgan's parents in New Zealand.

(And for that, Congress can kiss my ass. They were unainmous on the vote for Elizabeth Morgan, when they didn't even vote unanimously to go to war against Japan in WWII, they didn't vote unanimously to go to war in Iraq against Saddam Hussein....but they bent over backwards unanimously to let this woman destroy the child's relationship with the father. Stinking scumbags.)

A New Zealand court gave her sole custody but the visitation requirement by the U.S. court remained in effect, meaning that if Morgan returned to America she would have to allow her ex-husband to see their daughter.

Congress intervened again in 1996, passing the Elizabeth Morgan Act, which allowed the girl to decide whether to see her father. Foretich and his parents sued the government in 1997.

The appeals court declared the law unconstitutional because it applied only to Foretich.

(But, but, but....she was a mommy!!! Doesn't she deserve special rights awarded ONLY TO HER BY CONGRESS?   *&#^%!)

The Constitution prohibits legislative acts that single out an individual or group for punishment without a trial, but over the years few laws have been struck down on those grounds.

Judge Harry T. Edwards, who wrote the decision, said it was clear that the goal of Congress "was to assume the role of judicial tribunal and impose its own determination of who was or was not a fit parent."

Edwards said the law imposed burdens on the father, "deprivation of parental rights and the opprobrium of being branded a criminal child abuser."

The appeals court's decision could be appealed to the Supreme Court.

Morgan's primary congressional supporter, Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., did not respond to requests for comment. Her attorney also had no comment.

Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University law professor who represented the Foretich family, said the government will have to pay for legal fees in the case - about $1 million.

"I would hope this would be the final chapter, but such hopes have been dashed many times in the case," he said.

The daughter Hilary, now known as Ellen Morgan, has said she is glad her mother hid her in New Zealand.

(I find it VERY interesting that even the daughter doesn't claim any molestation by her father. Don't you think that's just a little peculiar??)

Doris Foretich, who lives in Newport News, Va., said she and her husband have had no contact with her.

"I've always missed her. I can hope, but I don't know," said Vincent Foretich, 89.


A fat lot of good this does Dr. Eric Foretich. His daughter is alienated, thanks to his ex-wife and Congress, and his life is a shambles. Oh Thank You, Great Benevolent Government!

[FatherTime]

Just to add insult to injury.

[StPaulieGirl]

Brent, back when that was going on, I was completely on Elizabeth Morgan's side....because who would ever lie about such a thing?  I thought she was doing the right thing to protect her kid.  Of course I know different now.

It's a damn shame that the daughter won't even see her father or grandparents.  Their hearts are broken :-(

[Rakkasan]

A fat lot of good this does Dr. Eric Foretich. His daughter is alienated, thanks to his ex-wife and Congress, and his life is a shambles. Oh Thank You, Great Benevolent Government!"



Remember... "A government that is big enough to provide everything you need, is big enough to take away everything you have."  Mark Larsen