Polovchak v. Meese
| Polovchak v. Meese | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Court | United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit |
| Full case name | Anna Polovchak and Michael Polovchak v. Edwin Meese III, et al |
| Argued | September 9, 1985 |
| Decided | September 10, 1985 |
| Citation(s) | 774 F.2d 731 (7th Cir. 1985) |
| Court membership | |
| Judge(s) sitting | Richard Dickson Cudahy, Richard Posner, Luther Merritt Swygert |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Cudahy |
| Concur/dissent | Swygert |
Polovchak v. Meese, 774 F.2d 731 (7th Cir. 1985)[1] was a federal court case involving a 12-year-old who did not want to leave the United States and to return with his parents to Soviet Ukraine.
Walter Polovchak was living in Chicago when his parents decided to return to Ukraine, then part of the USSR. He objected, which prompted the case.
The sympathetic Reagan administration dragged on the case. He was no longer a minor when he turned 18 before a final decision was rendered. He was then allowed to remain in the United States.
A court ruled that parents who are citizens of another country cannot remove their own child from the United States to their native land over the objection of their child unless the child is first afforded a hearing, to determine whether living in another nation is in the child's interests.
The case has similarities to that of Elián González, who some claimed he did not want to return to Cuba.
References
- ↑ Polovchak v. Meese, 774 F.2d 731 (7th Cir. 1985).
External links
- 774 F.2d 731, Anna POLOVCHAK and Michael Polovchak, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Edwin MEESE, III, United States Attorney General, and Michael Landon, District Director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Defendants-Appellants, Walter Polovchak, Intervening-Appellant. Nos. 85-2297, 85-2305. United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit. Argued Sept. 9, 1985. Decided Sept. 10, 1985. Opinion Oct. 9, 1985.