Elizabeth Morgan

Jean Elizabeth Morgan, M.D., Ph.D. (born 1947 in Washington, D.C., USA) is a plastic surgeon who was involved in a famous and controversial child custody case, in which she succeeded in denying her ex-husband any contact with their daughter Hilary for almost the entirety of the child's minority, claiming incest. During the course of the case, she was incarcerated for two years, and following her release from prison she went into hiding overseas; the Congress of the United States passed two laws designed to apply to this case alone.

The Hilary Morgan case

Morgan first met Dr. Eric A. Foretich, an oral surgeon, in Fairfax Hospital in Kirkland, Washington, where both were on the staff. Foretich's second marriage was breaking up at the time; after dating Foretich for a few months, Morgan became pregnant, and the two flew to Haiti and were married.

Related Topics:
Eric A. Foretich - Kirkland, Washington - Haiti

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Morgan left Foretich before she came to term; their daughter Hilary was born August 21, 1982, and the two were divorced in late 1982. In 1984, after a legal battle, Morgan was awarded custody of the child; Foretich had visitation rights on vacations and alternating weekends.

Related Topics:
August 21 - 1982 - 1984

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It was after visitations in early 1985, when Hilary was 2½ years old, that Morgan said her daughter gave the first verbal indications that she had been abused. Eventually, Morgan also accused both of Foretich's parents of sexually assaulting Hilary. Foretich maintained that Morgan was mentally ill, that Morgan herself had abused Hilary, and that she was "a pathological liar." (Time magazine later used the phrase "paranoid liar" as a possibility.) After a trial, a jury found in favor of Foretich and his parents.

Related Topics:
1985 - Mentally ill - Pathological liar - Time

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Prison

After many other inconclusive motions and appeals, the presiding judge, Herbert B. Dixon Jr., in 1987 ordered unsupervised visitation for Foretich. Morgan then sent Hilary into hiding with her parents. Judge Dixon then found Morgan to be in contempt of court and sent her to prison.

Related Topics:
Herbert B. Dixon Jr. - 1987 - Contempt of court

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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. She also convinced many famous and influential people, including Chuck Colson that abuse had indeed occurred.

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Congressional action and flight

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).

Related Topics:
Frank Rudolph Wolf - Home rule

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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.

Related Topics:
Washington and Lee University - Checks and balances

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On September 25, 1989, Morgan was released from prison; she then retrieved her passport from the D.C. Superior Court, and went into hiding. It turned out that Morgan, her parents, and Hilary had fled the country, and were in New Zealand, where they were located in February 1990 by a private investigator hired by Foretich. New Zealand chose to maintain the status quo. At around this time, Hilary's name was changed to Ellen.

Related Topics:
September 25 - 1989 - New Zealand - 1990 - Private investigator - Status quo

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The Elizabeth Morgan Act

By 1995, Morgan had developed cancer and 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 orders that were still in force, and they returned to the U.S in 1997.

Related Topics:
1995 - Cancer - Thomas M. Davis - 1996 - Rider - 1997

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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 December 16, 2003 the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. circuit ruled that the Elizabeth Morgan Act was an unconstitutional, as a rare bill of attainder, but the decision was moot as Ellen was no longer a minor.

Related Topics:
December 16 - 2003 - United States Court of Appeals - Bill of attainder - Moot - Minor

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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. 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."

Related Topics:
Jonathan Turley - George Washington University - USA Today - 2005

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There are similarities in congressional intervention issues (more properly, constitutional separation of powers) between the Elizabeth Morgan Act and the Palm Sunday Compromise of the recent Terri Schiavo conflict.

Related Topics:
Palm Sunday Compromise - Terri Schiavo

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