Title: Ex parte Attorney General Luther Strange, in his official capacity.

State: alabama

Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court

Document:

Rel: 01/22/2016
Notice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the advance
sheets of Southern Reporter.  Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions,
Alabama Appellate Courts, 300 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36104-3741 ((334) 229-
0649), of any typographical or other errors, in order that corrections may be made before
the opinion is printed in Southern Reporter.
SUPREME COURT OF ALABAMA
OCTOBER TERM, 2015-2016
____________________
1150152
____________________
Ex parte Attorney General Luther Strange, in his official
capacity
PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI
TO THE COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS
(In re: Athenia Clark Tanner Weldon
v.
Linda Ballow)
(Autauga Circuit Court, DR-14-900053;
Court of Civil Appeals, 2140471)
BRYAN, Justice.
WRIT DENIED. NO OPINION.
1150152
Moore, C.J., and Parker and Murdock, JJ., concur.
Shaw, J., concurs specially.
Stuart, Bolin, and Main, JJ., dissent.
Wise, J., recuses herself.
2
1150152
SHAW, Justice (concurring specially).
I concur with this Court's decision to deny Attorney
General Luther Strange's petition for a writ of certiorari 
seeking review of a decision of the Court of Civil Appeals.  
In this case, the Court of Civil Appeals held that the
Alabama Grandparent Visitation Act ("the GVA"), as amended in
2011 by Act No. 2011-539 and Act No. 2011-562, Ala. Acts 2011,
is unconstitutional.  Weldon v. Ballow, [Ms. 2140471, October
30, 2015] ___ So. 3d ___ (Ala. Civ. App. 2015).  In my writing
in this Court's decision in Ex parte E.R.G., 73 So. 3d 634,
675-76 (Ala. 2011), which held unconstitutional the pre-2011
amended version of the GVA, I stated:
"I agree with the holding by the Court of Civil
Appeals in J.W.J. v. P.K.R., 976 So. 2d 1035, 1040
(Ala. Civ. App. 2007), that, '[i]n order to meet the
constitutional requirements set out in Troxel [v.
Granville, 530 U.S. 57 (2000)], the [GVA] must
contain a presumption that the parent's wishes' are
'in the child's best interests'•when determining
whether to order visitation by a grandparent."  
73 So. 3d at 675-76 (Shaw, J., concurring in the result)
(footnote omitted).  I also quoted in my writing in E.R.G.
from the main opinion of  the Court of Civil Appeals in L.B.S.
v. L.M.S., 826 So. 2d 178 (Ala. Civ. App. 2002) (plurality
opinion): "[U]nder Troxel [v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57 (2000)],
3
1150152
'the determination that grandparent visitation will serve the
best interest of the child is not alone sufficient to overcome
the presumption in favor of a fit parent's fundamental right
to rear his or her children.'•826 So. 2d at 184."  E.R.G., 73
So. 3d at 676  (emphasis added).
The attorney general, in his certiorari petition,
contends that various writings by the Justices in E.R.G.,
including my writing, indicated that a presumption in favor of
the parent's decision was required for the GVA to be
constitutional.  Because the 2011 amendments to the GVA
provide such a presumption in favor of the parent's decision,
the attorney general contends that the GVA as amended in 2011 
is now constitutionally sufficient.1
It is correct that the 2011 amendments to the GVA create
a rebuttable presumption that parents "know what is in the
best interests of the child."  However, the GVA "does not
mandate any other criteria for a court to use when determining
whether the statutory presumption has been rebutted." 
 
Weldon,
___ So. 3d at ___.  As the Court of Civil Appeals explains: 
Act No. 2011-539 and Act No. 2011-562, which amended the
1
GVA to add this presumption, were approved by the Governor 
before this Court issued the decision in E.R.G.
4
1150152
"[A]lthough the plurality decision in Troxel [v.
Granville, 530 U.S. 57 (2000),]  did not explain the
amount of weight a court should give to custodial
parenting decisions, it very clearly stated that the
presumption could not be overcome 'simply because a
state judge believes a "better" decision could be
made,'•530 U.S. at 73, and that a court cannot
constitutionally overrule a custodial parent's
decision based on 'nothing more than a simple
disagreement between the [court] and [the custodial
parent] concerning her children's best interests.'
530 U.S. at 72. By enacting evidentiary presumptions
and shifting the burden of proof, the 2011
amendments do not remove from the courts the power
to award grandparent visitation based on the best
interests of the child."
Weldon, ___ So. 3d at ___ (emphasis added).  
Although the 2011 amendments to the GVA create a
presumption in favor of the parent's decision regarding
grandparent visitation, that presumption, according to the
Court of Civil Appeals, is insufficient under Troxel v.
Granville, 530 U.S. 57 (2000).   The attorney general, in his
2
In my writing in E.R.G., I did not discuss the necessary
2
weight that should be afforded a presumption in favor of the
parents' decision, because that was not an issue in that case. 
Instead, the version of the GVA at issue in E.R.G. gave the
parent's decision no special weight, and the GVA could not be
construed to provide the weight necessary to survive a
constitutional challenge: "Because the legislature [in
enacting the prior version of the GVA,] ... although
recognizing a fit parent's decision, gave that decision no
more weight than any other factor, I cannot agree that the
[GVA] can be further construed so as to give a parent's
decision the weight the legislature did not provide."  E.R.G.,
73 So. 3d at 678 (Shaw, J., concurring in the result). 
5
1150152
certiorari petition, 
does 
not 
challenge 
the analysis
underpinning the Court of Civil Appeals' conclusion that the
presumption created by the 2011 amendments is insufficient. 
I do not believe that, without an argument tending to show
that the Court of Civil Appeals erred in holding that the
presumption does not meet constitutional muster, the petition
shows the "probability of merit" necessary for issuance of a
writ of certiorari.  See Rule 39(f), Ala. R. App. P. 
Therefore, I concur in the denial of the petition.
6