View source for Polovchak v. Meese

{{see also|Walter Polovchak}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{Infobox COA case
  |Litigants=Polovchak v. Meese
  |Court=[[United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit]]
  |CourtSeal=Seal of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.svg
  |ArgueDate=September 9,
  |ArgueYear=1985
  |DecideDate=September 10,
  |DecideYear=1985
  |FullName=Anna Polovchak and Michael Polovchak v. Edwin Meese III, et al
  |Citations=774 [[F.2d]] [https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/774/731/10233/ 731]
  |Prior=
  |Subsequent=
  |Holding=
  |Judges=[[Richard Dickson Cudahy]], [[Richard Posner]], [[Luther Merritt Swygert]]
  |Majority=Cudahy
  |JoinMajority=
  |Concurrence/Dissent=Swygert
  |LawsApplied=
}}
'''''Polovchak v. Meese''''', 774 F.2d 731 (7th Cir. 1985),<ref>{{cite court |litigants=Polovchak v. Meese |vol=774 |reporter=F.2d |opinion=731 |pinpoint= |court=7th Cir. |date=1985 |url=https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/774/731/10233/ |accessdate=2019-03-10 |quote=}}</ref> was a federal court case involving a 12-year-old who did not want to leave the [[United States]] and to return with his parents to the [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukrainian SSR]].

[[Walter Polovchak]] was living in [[Chicago]] when his parents decided to return to [[Ukraine]], then part of the [[USSR]]. He objected, running away from his parents to the home of a cousin and requesting asylum, which prompted the case.  His parents returned to the Soviet Union with his two siblings.<ref name="LerouxHere"/>

The sympathetic [[Reagan administration]] allowed the legal proceedings to drag on for years, with the result that  by the time a final decision was rendered, Polovchak had turned 18. No longer a minor, he was able to remain in the United States.<ref name="LerouxHere">{{cite news |last1=Leroux |first1=Charles |title=WHATEVER BECAME OF THAT SOVIET KID WHO SUED HIS FOLKS TO STAY HERE? |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1999-07-02-9907020012-story.html |accessdate=7 March 2019 |publisher=Chicago Tribune |date=2 July 1999}}</ref>

A court ruled that parents who are citizens of another country cannot remove their own child from the United States to their native land over the objection of their child unless the child is first afforded a hearing, to determine whether living in another nation is in the child's interests.

==See also==
* [[Elián González]] — legal case involving a child who wanted to return to [[Cuba]] to live with his father.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{caselaw source
 | case = ''Polovchak v. Meese'', 774 F.2d 731 (7th Cir. 1985)
 | courtlistener =
 | googlescholar = https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=16634536796485066467
 | justia =https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/774/731/10233/
 | leagle =
 | openjurist =https://openjurist.org/774/f2d/731
 }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Polovchak V. Meese}}
[[Category:United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit cases]]
[[Category:1985 in United States case law]]


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