Why would a Virginia court rule on the merits of a Vermont custody case? The only obligation the Virginia court has is to determine if the VT court's decision is binding. These are two separate questions.
"No, the Virginia Supreme Court never reached the merits of the case, as we already established."
The merits of the custody determination are irrelevant to whether or not that determination is binding in VA. Should I type slower, or can you keep up?
Nice try. It wasn't the merits of the Vermont Custody case that were in question, but whether or not the Vermont Custody order contravened Virginia's public policy regarding same-sex unions. The VA Supreme Court never reached the merits of the case.
(You might be able to play games with some people on here, but you are not going to win at those games with me.)
The merits of the custody determination are irrelevant to whether or not that determination is binding in VA. Should I type slower, or can you keep up?
The merits on whether or not Virginia's DOMA would prevent enforcement of the Vermont Custody order are hardly irrelevant. That is the question that the VA Supreme Court couldn't reach because of res judicata. At least one of the Justices on the Court believed that VA's DOMA was very relevant. It is a virtual certainty that others on the Court thought the exact same thing, because they want to great pains to ensure to emphasize that they were not reaching the merits of the case, and that res judicata only applied to the parties and current case before the Court.