Jeffrey Lee Chafin, Petitioner v. Lynne Hales Chafin

Decided February 19, 2013. John Glover Roberts Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 11-1347 · 568 U.S. 165 (2013) · Cited 949 times

Holding

The return of a child to a foreign country pursuant to a Convention return order does not render an appeal of that order moot.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Lewis v. Continental Bank Corp. · 494 U.S. 472 (1990)
• Abbott v. Abbott · 560 U.S. 1 (2010)
• Knox v. Service Employees International Union, Local 1000 · 567 U.S. 298 (2012)
• Powell v. McCormack · 395 U.S. 486 (1969)
• City of Los Angeles v. Lyons · 461 U.S. 95 (1983)
• Nken v. Holder · 556 U.S. 418 (2009)
• Church of Scientology of California v. United States · 506 U.S. 9 (1992)
• North Carolina v. Rice · 404 U.S. 244 (1971)
• Calderon v. Moore · 518 U.S. 149 (1996)
• Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Environment · 523 U.S. 83 (1998)
• Hilton v. Braunskill · 481 U.S. 770 (1987)
• Murphy v. Hunt · 455 U.S. 478 (1982)
• United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co. · 200 U.S. 321 (1906)
• Mills v. Green · 159 U.S. 651 (1895)
• Camreta v. Greene · 563 U.S. 692 (2011)
• Republic of Argentina v. Weltover, Inc. · 504 U.S. 607 (1992)
• Republic of Austria v. Altmann · 541 U.S. 677 (2004)
• United States v. Villamonte-Marquez · 462 U.S. 579 (1983)
• Steele v. Bulova Watch Co. · 344 U.S. 280 (1952)
• Leman v. Krentler-Arnold Hinge Last Co. · 284 U.S. 448 (1932)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Mission Product Holdings, Inc. v. Tempnology, LLC · 587 U.S. 370 (2019)
• New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn., Inc. v. City of New York · 590 U.S. 336 (2020)
• MOAC Mall Holdings LLC v. Transform Holdco LLC · 598 U.S. 288 (2023)
• Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski · 592 U.S. 279 (2021)
• Genesis HealthCare Corp. v. Symczyk · 569 U.S. 66 (2013)
• Monasky v. Taglieri · 589 U.S. 68 (2020)
• Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez · 577 U.S. 153 (2016)
• City of L. A. v. Patel · 576 U.S. 409 (2015)
• Moore v. Harper · 600 U.S. 1 (2023)
• Gutierrez v. Saenz · 606 U.S. 305 (2025)
• Biden v. Texas · 597 U.S. 785 (2022)
• Golan v. Saada · 596 U.S. 666 (2022)
• National Rifle Association of America v. Vullo · 602 U.S. 175 (2024)
• United States v. Washington · 596 U.S. 832 (2022)
• Commissioner v. Zuch · 605 U.S. 422 (2025)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

Explore from here

John Glover Roberts Jr.’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2013). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).