Constitutional law professor Ronald D. Rotunda should stick to his specialty, which is obviously not adoption. His article (Op-Ed, July 17) smacks of emotionalism and reveals no problems with the adoption laws in Illinois, despite arguments to the contrary.
Supreme Court Justice James Heiple, while perhaps showing less restraint than he should have, was still correct in castigating Gov. Edgar and the Illinois General Assembly for quickly passing into law ill-conceived legislation designed to be popular but ignoring the old legal adage that “hard cases make bad law.”
The law in Illinois has been clear for years that if the mother states she knows who the natural father is but will not reveal him, it is impossible to properly terminate the rights of the natural father. Even worse in the Baby Richard case, the mother, allegedly in cooperation with the adoptive parents and their attorney, concealed the existence of the baby from the natural father. Such fraud was properly condemned by Justice Heiple.
