Supreme Court Decision on Divorce
A RELIGIOUS belief appears to have played a controlling part in a recent decision by the United States Supreme Court regarding divorce. By a division of five to four, the Supreme Court has decided that divorces are legal only where both parties to it are present and under the jurisdiction of the State granting the decree. The three Roman Catholic members of the Supreme Court were among the five constituting a majority affirming this view. The important point about this decision is that it is retroactive. It nullifies past divorces obtained contrary to the requirements it specifies for valid divorce, as well as cuts off such divorces in the future. Many children suddenly find themselves legally classed as illegitimate, besides being deprived of property rights. By some journals the decision is considered as “little less than appalling,” since its natural effect is to “place a blight upon society all over the country, and involve family relations in almost inextricable confusion.” Other papers view with satisfaction the end which the decision will put to the “divorce mills” that have flourished in certain States. The Catholic Church, as is well known, is intolerant of divorce.