SkipCaptcha
5,204
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 1:
Line 1: + + Line 112:
Line 114: − + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + − Her story was also covered in the June 1990 edition of Vanity Fair Magazine as the “Elizabeth Morgan case”.+ − ===Congressional interventions===+ + − The U.S. Congress intervened twice to see that the existing laws did not apply to Elizabeth Morgan. Once in 1989 and again in 1996. See below.+ + − After being freed on September 25, 1989, Morgan traveled to New Zealand and rejoin Hilary and the grandparents. Foretich searched and was able to locate Hilary in Christchurch in February 1990. After attempting to resume the custody struggle under New Zealand law, Foretich gave up, in part because of the financial burden of pursuing the matter. Morgan and family returned to the USA in 1997 after the second congressional intervention, freed of Judge Dixon's jurisdiction.+ + + − + − + − Elsa Newman, an attorney, was in a custody fight with her husband, Arlen Slobodow. Concerned that Newman represented a flight risk, Judge S. Michael Pincus said, “I don’t want another Elizabeth Morgan case in my courtroom.” According to an online Washingtonian article, Newman did in fact consult Morgan.+ − When Newman sought her advice, Morgan responded in e-mail: “I don’t have the answers. I only know the choices, which are grim: Give in and accept the incest, kill the abuser, or grab the kids and run.”+ + + + + + − On January 7, 2002, Newman’s close friend, Foreign Service officer Margery Lemb Landry, wearing a ski mask, broke into Slobodow’s home while he was sleeping, and with the children present, shot him twice in the leg. Just before shooting him, Landry had planted child pornography in Slobodow’s home.+ + + + + + + − Slobodow did survive; Landry pleaded guilty to attempted murder and was sentenced to a twenty-year prison term. Newman was convicted of conspiracy in a jury trail, and also received a twenty-year sentence. After their arrests, neither was granted bail. Morgan, in a letter to the presiding judge, supported Newman’s release before her conviction. Newman’s conviction was overturned on a procedural error and in her re-trial, she received an similar sentence: life in prison with all but 20 years suspended. She is inmate #921975 at Maryland Correctional Institution for Women at Jessup.+ + + + + − + + + + − Deadly Triangle − June 1, 2002 − https://www.washingtonian.com/2002/06/01/deadly-triangle/ Line 251:
Line 316: − ===FAMILY LAW ARMAGEDDON=== − − http://ssrn.com/abstract=983770 − THE STORY OF MORGAN V. FORETICH − − By June Carbone and Leslie Joan Harris − − Elizabeth Morgan and Eric Foretich’s decade-long war over custody and visitation with their daughter Hilary was the largest and most expensive case the D.C. court system had ever handled. The parties racked up more than $4 million in attorney fees, the trials and hearings generated more than 4,000 pages of transcript, and more than 1,000 articles about the case were published. The case began with a whirlwind romance and an elopement to Haiti, followed quickly by disillusionment, divorce, and a custody fight that involved the grandparents’ flight across the globe to hide the child from her father and the mother’s multi-year imprisonment for failure to disclose the girl’s whereabouts. It took an act of Congress to release the mother from jail, and a second Congressional act to permit mother and daughter to return from New Zealand. In 2003 the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held the second piece of legislation unconstitutional, but by then Hilary had reached the age of majority and escaped the reach of the courts. − − For more information on the Bill of Attainder clause in the U.S. Constitution, see − The Rule of Law and the Origins of the Bill of Attainder Clause − By Jacob Reynolds, J.D. − http://amorrow2.pbworks.com/f/Reynolds_Final.pdf − − Copyright (c) 2005 St. Thomas Law Review − St. Thomas Law Review − GENERAL ISSUE: NOTES & COMMENTS: THE RULE OF LAW AND THE ORIGINS OF THE BILL OF ATTAINDER CLAUSE − Fall, 2005 − 18 St. Thomas L. Rev. 177 − − https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_of_attainder − https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobareynolds − http://digitalcommons.law.byu.edu/student_papers/252/ (subscription required) − https://litigation-essentials.lexisnexis.com/webcd/app?action=DocumentDisplay&crawlid=1&srctype=smi&srcid=3B15&doctype=cite&docid=18+St.+Thomas+L.+Rev.+177&key=f75a210be888c1e510908cdae087a1ed Line 659:
Line 700: − ===First Congressional Intervention=== − − ”’District of Columbia Civil Contempt Imprisonment Limitation Act”’ was an act of Congress passed in 1989 to alter local law in Washington, D.C. An individual citizen, Elizabeth Morgan, was mentioned frequently during the deliberations. The Act allowed Morgan to walk out of local jail, where she had been incarcerated after she refused to share custody of her daughter, Hillary, with Hillary’s father. Dr. Eric Foretich. The Act only applied to custody cases, rather than to all cases of contempt, permanently complicating contempt issues in Washington D.C. − − ===Background=== − − Dr. Morgan had been incarcerated by Herbert B. Dixon, Jr. for contempt of court in her custody dispute. Since she showed no signed of obeying Dixon’s orders, she seems destined to remain in jail indefinitely. For the next two years, Morgan’s incarceration received a great deal of publicity. In much of it she was portrayed as a model prisoner, and a woman of fortitude. Chuck Colson visited her in jail and she convinced him that Dr. Foretich had sexually abused Hillary. Colson had a wide array of powerful Republican, conservative and religious connections at his disposal and used them. Morgan and Colson convinced many famous and influential people came to believe in Morgan’s accustaions and this effort lead to the passage of the Act. As Richard Doyle put in 2002 in his web blog entitled “Conservative Blunders”: : − − “”I can understand liberal columnists going ga-ga over the celebrated Ms. Elizabeth Morgan and the fawning articles in such pop magazines as Glamour and People. What troubles me is that several normally sensible conservatives did likewise, e.g. Charles (Chuck) Colson, James Dobson, Sen. Orrin Hatch, Sen. John Heinz, Lt. Col. Oliver North (although he merely attended a party and said “God Bless”) and H Ross Perot. Strange bedfellows, indeed. Then, in a monument to political pandering to public ignorance, Galahads in Congress unanimously passed and President Bush, the elder, signed a bill freeing this demonstrably prevaricating maternal child molester. Republican Rep. Tom Davis sponsored a bill to let her bring her daughter back from New Zealand without facing the consequences of her defiance of the court.”” − − https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Perot − − As James Jewell, Colson former chief-of-staff at the time, recently put it: :””Without Mr. Colson’s involvement, Morgan would have stayed in prison much longer. It was his influence with members of Congress, such as Congressman Wolf, as well as his rallying of the evangelical Christian community, including James Dobson, that resulted in the bill that forced Judge Dixon to release Elizabeth Morgan.”” − − https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Dobson − − ===Congressional action=== − − Rep. Frank Rudolph Wolf sponsored, and the U.S. Congress passed, the District of Columbia Civil Contempt Imprisonment Limitation Act of 1989, a bill that limited to twelve months the time that a person can be jailed on civil contempt charges in custody cases in Washington, D.C. (which has limited home rule ). As example of those supporting Morgan was Prof. Doug Rendleman of Washington and Lee University School of Law, who said that although Congress had engaged in “legislative adjudication,” it was proper for Congress to get involved in the Morgan case, because the checks and balances within the judicial system had, in essence, failed. On the other hand, he was disappointed by the lack of preparation before the deliberative process commenced, and the narrowness of the resulting law. On 1989-09-25, Morgan was released from prison. − − https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Wolf_(politician) − https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Columbia_home_rule − − HR 2136 (District of Columbia Civil Contempt Imprisonment Limitation Act of 1989) − − Stan Parris(co-sponsored bill.) − https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_Parris − − Bob McEwen(compares Dixon actions against Morgan’s brother, Robert toTiananmen Square. ) − https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_McEwen − − Alfred A. McCandless − https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_McCandless − − John Glenn − https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Glenn − − Legal journals − − Prof. Doug Rendleman − httpS://law2.wlu.edu/faculty/profiles/Rendleman.asp − https://law2.wlu.edu/faculty/profiledetail.asp?id=39&showsec=publications − wrote “Enough is Enough” article − − Prof. Paul Butlerwrote “Taking Lessons from Elizabeth Morgan” − − Other web sites − − Photographs & Other Evidence for Child Abuse − http://www.custodyprepformoms.org/dycc.htm − − Conservative Blunders − http://www.intellectualconservative.com/article1068.html − − Congressional Action On Behalf of Another Daughter − by James Jewell − http://www.stonescryout.org/archives/2005/03/congressional_a.html − − ===Second Congressional Intervention=== − − ”’The Elizabeth Morgan Act”’ was an act of Congress, as a rider, on behalf of Elizabeth Morgan. This was a second act of Congress in which Morgan’s case was mentioned during the deliberations. The first had been a modification of local D.C. law. The act allowed Morgan and her daughter, Ellen, to return to the United States without having to share custody of Ellen with the girl’s father, Dr. Eric A. Foretich. The act was overturned in 2003 only after Ellen had reached adulthood as a rare bill of attainder . − http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_of_attainder − − ===Path through Congress=== − − Having previously passed theDistrict of Columbia Civil Contempt Imprisonment Limitation Act (see above),Congress was persuaded to pass yet another law on Dr. Morgan’s behalf. By 1995, Morgan, who had fled to New Zealand with Ellen and other relatives, had developed cancer . Ellen, then 13, indicated to Rep. Thomas M. Davis that she wanted to return to the U.S. In September 1996, Davis sponsored the Elizabeth Morgan Act as a rider on a major transportation bill. While this new legislation was worded to focus on Ellen’s needs, it effectively shielded Morgan from all of the judicial custody orders that were still in force, and the Morgans returned to the U.S in 1997. − − http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_M._Davis − − ===Unconstitutionality=== − − Foretich claimed that the damage to his reputation from the Act reduced his professional practice in the D.C. area and made it difficult for him to find comparable work anywhere else in the nation. He dropped all further attempts to gain visitation and focused on the undoing of the Act. On 2003-12-16, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. circuit ruled that the Elizabeth Morgan Act was unconstitutional, as it was a rare bill of attainder, but the decision was moot as Ellen was no longer a minor . In finding that it was a bill of attainder, the Court’s logic was that the Bill was not about the Morgans but about Dr. Foretich and that it penalized him. Precedent had established that only bills which penalize a party can be found to be a bill of attainder. 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 $1.5 million. He added, “I would hope this would be the final chapter, but such hopes have been dashed many times in the case.” He also said (in a ” USA Today ” editorial in March 2005): “The bill negated 10 years of orders in the husband’s favor and effectively labeled him a danger to his daughter.” Comparisons regarding congressional intervention in the judicial system can be drawn between the Elizabeth Morgan Act and the Palm Sunday Compromise of the recent Terri Schiavo case . − − http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Turley − http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Sunday_Compromise − − https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Sunday_Compromise Line 819:
Line 783: − − Jewell (Colson's former Chief of Staff) 2005-03-24 blog archive − http://www.stonescryout.org/archives/2005/03/congressional_a.html − − June Carbone, Leslie J. Harris 2007: Family Law Armageddon: The Story of Morgan v. Foretich − http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=983770 Line 839:
Line 797: −
Elizabeth Morgan case (view source)
Revision as of 19:56, February 7, 2017
, 19:56, February 7, 2017sort
The '''Elizabeth Morgan case''' was a high-publicized child custody struggle initially located in Washington D.C. and later in New Zealand. Over 1000 news articles were published on it. It cost the litigants in attorneys fees, expert witness and court costs etc. a combined total of over $4 million. As the struggle stretched out over many years and beyond the borders of the USA, it involved two [[Act of Congress|Acts of Congress]].<ref>Carbone, June and Harris, Leslie J., 2007, "Family Law Armageddon", Chapter in "Family Law Stories" Sanger, Carol, ISBN 1599410206 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=983770</ref><ref>http://www.laweekly.com/news/morgan-vs-foretich-twenty-years-later-2158156</ref>
The '''Elizabeth Morgan case''' was a high-publicized child custody struggle initially located in Washington D.C. and later in New Zealand. Over 1000 news articles were published on it. It cost the litigants in attorneys fees, expert witness and court costs etc. a combined total of over $4 million. As the struggle stretched out over many years and beyond the borders of the USA, it involved two [[Act of Congress|Acts of Congress]].<ref>Carbone, June and Harris, Leslie J., 2007, "Family Law Armageddon", Chapter in "Family Law Stories" Sanger, Carol, ISBN 1599410206 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=983770</ref><ref>http://www.laweekly.com/news/morgan-vs-foretich-twenty-years-later-2158156</ref>
The U.S. Congress intervened twice to see that the existing laws did not apply to Elizabeth Morgan. Once in 1989 and again in 1996. See below. After being freed on September 25, 1989, Morgan traveled to New Zealand and rejoin Hilary and the grandparents. Foretich searched and was able to locate Hilary in Christchurch in February 1990. After attempting to resume the custody struggle under New Zealand law, Foretich gave up, in part because of the financial burden of pursuing the matter. Morgan and family returned to the USA in 1997 after the second congressional intervention, freed of Judge Dixon's jurisdiction.
Elizabeth Morgan was later involved in the [[Elsa Newman case]].
Elizabeth Morgan was later involved in the [[Elsa Newman case]].
===Media coverage===
===Media coverage===
Morgan, as a surgeon in Washington, D.C., in 1980 published a successful book titled ”The Making of a Woman Surgeon”, which recounted the rigors of her training in this predominantly male profession. The publication of the book was covered by Reader’s Digest. Morgan wrote the ”Reader’s Digest” article, “Give the Lady a Knife”; the title was presented as having been said by a male surgeon. She would later appear on the cover of People magazine and at about the same time in a Life Magazine article with an extensive set of photos.
Morgan, as a surgeon in Washington, D.C., in 1980 published a successful book titled ”The Making of a Woman Surgeon”, which recounted the rigors of her training in this predominantly male profession. The publication of the book was covered by Reader’s Digest. Morgan wrote the ”Reader’s Digest” article, “Give the Lady a Knife”; the title was presented as having been said by a male surgeon. She would later appear on the cover of People magazine and at about the same time in a Life Magazine article with an extensive set of photos. Her story was also covered in the June 1990 edition of Vanity Fair Magazine as the “Elizabeth Morgan case”.
===Jailing===
Dr. Morgan had been incarcerated by Herbert B. Dixon, Jr. for contempt of court in her custody dispute. Since she showed no signed of obeying Dixon’s orders, she seems destined to remain in jail indefinitely. For the next two years, Morgan’s incarceration received a great deal of publicity. In much of it she was portrayed as a model prisoner, and a woman of fortitude. Chuck Colson visited her in jail and she convinced him that Dr. Foretich had sexually abused Hillary. Colson had a wide array of powerful Republican, conservative and religious connections at his disposal and used them. Morgan and Colson convinced many famous and influential people came to believe in Morgan’s accustaions and this effort lead to the passage of the Act. As Richard Doyle put in 2002 in his web blog entitled “Conservative Blunders”: :
“”I can understand liberal columnists going ga-ga over the celebrated Ms. Elizabeth Morgan and the fawning articles in such pop magazines as Glamour and People. What troubles me is that several normally sensible conservatives did likewise, e.g. Charles (Chuck) Colson, James Dobson, Sen. Orrin Hatch, Sen. John Heinz, Lt. Col. Oliver North (although he merely attended a party and said “God Bless”) and H Ross Perot. Strange bedfellows, indeed. Then, in a monument to political pandering to public ignorance, Galahads in Congress unanimously passed and President Bush, the elder, signed a bill freeing this demonstrably prevaricating maternal child molester. Republican Rep. Tom Davis sponsored a bill to let her bring her daughter back from New Zealand without facing the consequences of her defiance of the court.””
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Perot
As James Jewell, Colson former chief-of-staff at the time, recently put it: :””Without Mr. Colson’s involvement, Morgan would have stayed in prison much longer. It was his influence with members of Congress, such as Congressman Wolf, as well as his rallying of the evangelical Christian community, including James Dobson, that resulted in the bill that forced Judge Dixon to release Elizabeth Morgan.””
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Dobson
===First Congressional Intervention===
”’District of Columbia Civil Contempt Imprisonment Limitation Act”’ was an act of Congress passed in 1989 to alter local law in Washington, D.C. An individual citizen, Elizabeth Morgan, was mentioned frequently during the deliberations. The Act allowed Morgan to walk out of local jail, where she had been incarcerated after she refused to share custody of her daughter, Hillary, with Hillary’s father. Dr. Eric Foretich. The Act only applied to custody cases, rather than to all cases of contempt, permanently complicating contempt issues in Washington D.C.
Rep. Frank Rudolph Wolf sponsored, and the U.S. Congress passed, the District of Columbia Civil Contempt Imprisonment Limitation Act of 1989, a bill that limited to twelve months the time that a person can be jailed on civil contempt charges in custody cases in Washington, D.C. (which has limited home rule ). As example of those supporting Morgan was Prof. Doug Rendleman of Washington and Lee University School of Law, who said that although Congress had engaged in “legislative adjudication,” it was proper for Congress to get involved in the Morgan case, because the checks and balances within the judicial system had, in essence, failed. On the other hand, he was disappointed by the lack of preparation before the deliberative process commenced, and the narrowness of the resulting law. On 1989-09-25, Morgan was released from prison.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Wolf_(politician)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Columbia_home_rule
HR 2136 (District of Columbia Civil Contempt Imprisonment Limitation Act of 1989)
Stan Parris(co-sponsored bill.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_Parris
Bob McEwen(compares Dixon actions against Morgan’s brother, Robert toTiananmen Square. )
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_McEwen
Alfred A. McCandless
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_McCandless
John Glenn
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Glenn
Legal journals
Prof. Doug Rendleman
httpS://law2.wlu.edu/faculty/profiles/Rendleman.asp
https://law2.wlu.edu/faculty/profiledetail.asp?id=39&showsec=publications
wrote “Enough is Enough” article
Prof. Paul Butlerwrote “Taking Lessons from Elizabeth Morgan”
Other web sites
Photographs & Other Evidence for Child Abuse
http://www.custodyprepformoms.org/dycc.htm
Conservative Blunders
http://www.intellectualconservative.com/article1068.html
Congressional Action On Behalf of Another Daughter
by James Jewell (Colson's former Chief of Staff) 2005-03-24 blog archive
http://www.stonescryout.org/archives/2005/03/congressional_a.html
===Elsa Newman case (2002)===
===Second Congressional Intervention===
In 2002, Morgan was involved as a consultant in another controversial child custody case.
Having previously passed the District of Columbia Civil Contempt Imprisonment Limitation Act (see above),Congress was persuaded to pass yet another law on Dr. Morgan’s behalf. By 1995, Morgan, who had fled to New Zealand with Ellen and other relatives, had developed cancer . Ellen, then 13, indicated to Rep. Thomas M. Davis that she wanted to return to the U.S. In September 1996, Davis sponsored the Elizabeth Morgan Act as a rider on a major transportation bill. While this new legislation was worded to focus on Ellen’s needs, it effectively shielded Morgan from all of the judicial custody orders that were still in force, and the Morgans returned to the U.S in 1997.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_M._Davis
”’The Elizabeth Morgan Act”’ was an act of Congress, as a rider, on behalf of Elizabeth Morgan. This was a second act of Congress in which Morgan’s case was mentioned during the deliberations. The first had been a modification of local D.C. law. The act allowed Morgan and her daughter, Ellen, to return to the United States without having to share custody of Ellen with the girl’s father, Dr. Eric A. Foretich. The act was overturned in 2003 only after Ellen had reached adulthood as a rare bill of attainder .
Foretich claimed that the damage to his reputation from the Act reduced his professional practice in the D.C. area and made it difficult for him to find comparable work anywhere else in the nation. He dropped all further attempts to gain visitation and focused on the undoing of the Act. On 2003-12-16, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. circuit ruled that the Elizabeth Morgan Act was unconstitutional, as it was a rare bill of attainder, but the decision was moot as Ellen was no longer a minor . In finding that it was a bill of attainder, the Court’s logic was that the Bill was not about the Morgans but about Dr. Foretich and that it penalized him. Precedent had established that only bills which penalize a party can be found to be a bill of attainder. 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 $1.5 million. He added, “I would hope this would be the final chapter, but such hopes have been dashed many times in the case.” He also said (in a ” USA Today ” editorial in March 2005): “The bill negated 10 years of orders in the husband’s favor and effectively labeled him a danger to his daughter.” Comparisons regarding congressional intervention in the judicial system can be drawn between the Elizabeth Morgan Act and the Palm Sunday Compromise of the recent Terri Schiavo case .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_of_attainder
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Turley
Compare to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Sunday_Compromise
For more information on the Bill of Attainder clause in the U.S. Constitution, see
The Rule of Law and the Origins of the Bill of Attainder Clause
By Jacob Reynolds, J.D.
http://amorrow2.pbworks.com/f/Reynolds_Final.pdf
Copyright (c) 2005 St. Thomas Law Review
St. Thomas Law Review
GENERAL ISSUE: NOTES & COMMENTS: THE RULE OF LAW AND THE ORIGINS OF THE BILL OF ATTAINDER CLAUSE
Fall, 2005
18 St. Thomas L. Rev. 177
https://www.dpscs.state.md.us/locations/mciw.shtml
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_of_attainder
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobareynolds
http://digitalcommons.law.byu.edu/student_papers/252/ (subscription required)
https://litigation-essentials.lexisnexis.com/webcd/app?action=DocumentDisplay&crawlid=1&srctype=smi&srcid=3B15&doctype=cite&docid=18+St.+Thomas+L.+Rev.+177&key=f75a210be888c1e510908cdae087a1ed
===Post-return events and current status===
===Post-return events and current status===
(see below)
(see below)
===See also===
===See also===
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/wl1Ckp4woaDhKZQpDk5zMA
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/wl1Ckp4woaDhKZQpDk5zMA
===See also===
===See also===
Includes 1996 ”Legal Times” article by J. Groner
Includes 1996 ”Legal Times” article by J. Groner
1990-12-01 Morgan - Foretich Fight Ends — for Now
1990-12-01 Morgan - Foretich Fight Ends — for Now
http://web.archive.org/web/20070423182743/http://www.ncfc.net/morgnzld.txt
http://web.archive.org/web/20070423182743/http://www.ncfc.net/morgnzld.txt
Legislative Branding: A Modern Day Bill of Attainder
Legislative Branding: A Modern Day Bill of Attainder
https://www.congress.gov/
https://www.congress.gov/
[[Category:Law]]
[[Category:Law]]
[[Category:Acts of Congress]]
[[Category:Acts of Congress]]