Timothy Mark Cameron Abbott v. Jacquelyn Vaye Abbott

Decided May 17, 2010. Anthony McLeod Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 08-645 · 560 U.S. 1 (2010) · Cited 506 times

Holding

A parent has a right of custody under the Convention by reason of that parent’s ne exeat right.

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 6–3.

“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.

• Sumitomo Shoji America, Inc. v. Avagliano · 457 U.S. 176 (1982)
• Russello v. United States · 464 U.S. 16 (1983)
• Medellin v. Texas · 552 U.S. 491 (2008)
• Breard v. Greene · 523 U.S. 371 (1998)
• El Al Israel Airlines, Ltd. v. Tsui Yuan Tseng · 525 U.S. 155 (1999)
• Factor v. Laubenheimer · 290 U.S. 276 (1933)
• Olympic Airways v. Husain · 540 U.S. 644 (2004)
• Hertz Corp. v. Friend · 559 U.S. 77 (2010)
• United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co. · 200 U.S. 321 (1906)
• Leocal v. Ashcroft · 543 U.S. 1 (2004)
• Container Corp. of America v. Franchise Tax Board · 463 U.S. 159 (1983)
• Air France v. Saks · 470 U.S. 392 (1985)
• Zicherman Ex Rel. Estate of Kole v. Korean Air Lines Co. · 516 U.S. 217 (1996)
• Kolovrat v. Oregon · 366 U.S. 187 (1961)

Cited by

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

• Monasky v. Taglieri · 589 U.S. 68 (2020)
• Lozano v. Montoya Alvarez · 572 U.S. 1 (2014)
• Chafin v. Chafin · 568 U.S. 165 (2013)
• Golan v. Saada · 596 U.S. 666 (2022)
• Water Splash, Inc. v. Menon · 581 U.S. 271 (2017)
• BG Group, PLC v. Republic of Argentina · 572 U.S. 25 (2014)
• Republic of Sudan v. Harrison · 587 U.S. 1 (2019)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Anthony McLeod Kennedy’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2010). 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).