(March 5, 2025 – Richmond, Va) Today, the Department of Justice formally withdrew the Biden administration’s “Statement of Interest” amicus brief submitted in the Virginia Supreme Court for case number 240707, J.M. et al. v. A.A., et al.
This incredible case involves non-relative Afghans suing Major Joshua and Stephanie Mast, a Marine Corps couple, to gain custody of a 5-1/2 year old girl the Marine family adopted as a terribly wounded new-born baby off the battlefield of Afghanistan.
AFLC commends the courage of the Trump administration in defending this little girl known variously as “Baby Doe, “Baby L,” and “Sparrow” from the attempts of career State Department bureaucrats, Biden administration holdovers, and the Taliban to take this little girl away from her loving father, a courageous U.S. Marine, and her mother and four brothers.
You can read more about this story, and AFLC’s involvement, here.
On January 6, 2025, in an effort to tie the hands of the incoming Trump administration, Biden Justice Department holdover attorney Lewis Yelin submitted an amicus brief to the Virginia Supreme Court, effectively in support of the non-relative Afghans and the Taliban. The brief was based on falsehoods. Yelin was granted leave to argue on behalf of the government at the oral argument set to decide if the Marine family’s adoption remains valid and in place.
On February 25, however, approximately 45 minutes before oral arguments, while Yelin was in court sitting alongside the Washington, DC mega law firms, more properly called the Gitmo Bar, representing the non-relative Afghans and aligned with the Taliban, the Trump administration rescinded Yellin’s authority to argue. (The full oral argument before the Virginia Supreme Court may be heard at https://www.vacourts.gov/courts/scv/oral_arguments/home, by clicking the link on the drop down menu for 240707 J.M. et al. v. A.A., et al.).
Today, March 5, 2025, Acting Assistant Attorney General Yaakov Moshe Roth, formerly with Jones Day, entered an appearance before the Supreme Court of Virginia and filed notice that following the change of administrations, the United States has now had an opportunity to reevaluate its position in this case, including U.S. foreign-policy interests and intervening foreign-policy developments, including developments in Afghanistan. The United States notified the Court that it was respectfully withdrawing its amicus curiae brief filed by the Biden administration.
AFLC Co-Founder and Senior Counsel, David Yerushalmi, who is representing Richard Mast, the brother of the Marine father who is also embroiled in this legal assault by Gitmo lawyers, commented:
“Anyone who wonders whether the new Trump Administration is hard at work to reverse the evils of the previous Biden & Obama Administrations, can look to this example. The Biden DOJ and fellow travelers in the State Department, notably Donna Welton (a career bureaucrat – now thankfully ‘retired’) created this nightmare. President Trump is saving an innocent little girl from the clutches of the Taliban and keeping her safely with her patriotic Marine Corps family.”
You can support this important case here.
2025.03.05 withdrawal FINAL