Amicus Curiae · Supreme Court of the United States
America’s word should not expire on a filing deadline.
AfghanEvac has joined an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court of the United States to take up A.A. and F.A. v. Mast, a case about whether an American court can extinguish a family’s rights to a child in their care with no notice, no hearing, and no way to set it right.
Filed September 16, 2026
Every fact on this page comes from the public court record, including filings by the United States government and the courts’ own findings. AfghanEvac is one of three amici. We are not a party to the case, and we are not counsel to the family.The child and her family are identified only as the court records identify them, to protect their family members who remain in Afghanistan.
The case
A family, a filing deadline, and the due process of law.
In 2019, a U.S. Marine Corps judge advocate, Joshua Mast, and his wife obtained Virginia court orders over an Afghan infant by representing her as a stateless orphan with no known relatives. The public record later showed that she had family, and that the Afghan government and the United States had arranged to reunite her with them.
The Masts pressed forward. They secured a final adoption order that described the child as an “undocumented, orphaned, stateless minor,” then waited for Virginia’s six-month deadline to challenge that order to pass. Only afterward did they bring the child’s Afghan family to the United States, where the child was taken from them. The Supreme Court of Virginia reinstated the adoption. The family has now asked the Supreme Court of the United States to hear the case, and AfghanEvac, the Chamberlain Network, and Professor Daniel Maurer have filed an amicus brief in support.
This is a summary written for the public and the press. The brief itself, with full citations to the record, is the authoritative document.
Why AfghanEvac joined
America asks a great deal of people who trust us in war.
We ask them to trust the servicemember at the gate, the official reviewing their documents, the lawyer explaining the process, and the government that promises following the rules will lead to safety. That trust is part of America’s word, and every American who deploys overseas, in and out of uniform, depends on it.
For five years, AfghanEvac has asked vulnerable Afghans to trust American institutions. That system cannot function if the authority and credibility of the United States can instead be used to place those same families at risk.
Afghan allies still remain across more than 90 countries, waiting on the promises America made. What we do in cases like this one is what tells them whether those promises still hold.
The argument
What the brief tells the Court.
The brief makes a focused, three-part argument grounded entirely in the public record and in the rules that govern American personnel overseas.
American personnel are bound by clear rules
U.S. servicemembers, and judge advocates most of all, are trained on their duties under the law of war and their obligations toward civilians and children. Judge advocates carry heightened ethical duties of honesty and loyalty to the law. The record shows those rules were systematically violated.
Manipulation is not due process
Ex parte proceedings, misrepresentations to multiple courts and agencies, and silence about conflicting federal findings led a Virginia court to exceed its jurisdiction and decide an Afghan family’s rights with no notice and no opportunity to be heard.
This will happen again
If the decision stands, the Virginia dissent warned it would legitimize “manipulation and artifice” so long as a state filing deadline passes before the deception is exposed. That is a roadmap for the next case, in the next conflict zone.
The reputation of the United States is on the line
If the world sees an American officer use U.S. courts to take an orphaned child from her family, it casts suspicion on every American who deploys to a crisis, and on every promise the United States makes to the people it asks for help.
In his own words
Statement of Shawn VanDiver, President of AfghanEvac.
America asks a great deal of people who trust us in war.
We ask them to trust the servicemember at the gate. Trust the official reviewing their documents. Trust the lawyer explaining the process. Follow the rules, believe what Americans in positions of authority tell you, and trust that our institutions will protect you. That trust matters. It is part of America’s word, and every American who deploys overseas, in and out of uniform, depends on it.
The public record in this case should trouble anyone who has ever worn the uniform or asked another person to trust the United States. The United States government told a Virginia court that Marine Corps judge advocate Joshua Mast misused his position, authority, and access as a military officer and DoD lawyer to advance his personal interest in adopting an Afghan child. Virginia courts issued orders based on representations about that child’s citizenship, family, and legal status that the record later showed were wrong. Mast’s counsel told a federal judge that his client was not seeking to adopt the child, even though the Masts already held a preliminary adoption order. And the Afghan family caring for her received no notice that a Virginia court was deciding their rights to a child in their care.
Those are not AfghanEvac’s facts. They come from the public record, including filings by the United States government and the courts themselves.
We are not asking the Supreme Court to decide who should raise this child. We are asking the Court to decide something more fundamental, whether people can have their rights to a child in their care extinguished by an American court without notice, without an opportunity to be heard, and then be told that a filing deadline prevents a court from correcting what happened.
Due process is not a technicality. Neither is the conduct of Americans entrusted with authority overseas.
For five years, AfghanEvac has worked to convince Afghan families that American institutions can still be trusted and that following lawful processes matters. We do that because America’s credibility has consequences. The next time an American servicemember asks a local partner for help, the next time a U.S. official tells a frightened family to follow our instructions, and the next time we ask someone to risk their life because America gave its word, what we do in cases like this will matter.
America’s word still matters. So does due process. Neither should expire on a filing deadline.
Shawn VanDiver
President and Founder, AfghanEvac
What the public record shows
A deliberate sequence, not a misunderstanding.
These entries are drawn from the public court record, including filings by the United States government. Citations in the brief point to the underlying documents, including the redacted record available through the Fluvanna County Courts.
“Your client is not asking to adopt the child.”
“No, sir.”
A federal judge and the Masts’ counsel, February 2020, at a time when the Masts already held a preliminary adoption order. From the public court record. Independent reporting on the case is linked below.
The Supreme Court of Virginia later reinstated the 2020 adoption order. In dissent, one justice wrote that the decision “legitimizes the manipulation and artifice” the family had endured.
Who filed
Three amici, one concern.
The brief is submitted by two veteran-connected organizations and a scholar of military law, joined by a shared duty to speak candidly about the standards that govern Americans overseas.
AfghanEvac
A nonprofit, nonpartisan policy, advocacy, and communications organization focused on Afghan allies and the Americans who serve them.
Formed in August 2021, it became the principal civil-society partner of the U.S. government on Afghan relocation, a partnership later formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of State.
The Chamberlain Network
A national, veteran-led civic organization dedicated to defending democratic institutions, the rule of law, and civil order in the United States. Named for Civil War hero Joshua L. Chamberlain, it works to mobilize former service members as engaged citizens.
Professor Daniel Maurer
Associate Professor at Ohio Northern University’s Pettit College of Law, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and judge advocate with multiple combat tours, who has taught at West Point and the Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School.
In the news
Independent reporting on the case.
These are third-party news accounts, offered for background. They are the news organizations’ own reporting, not AfghanEvac’s characterization.
Scope
What this brief does not do.
- It does not ask the Court to decide who should raise this child.
- It does not make AfghanEvac a party to the case, or counsel to the family.
- It does not rely on anything beyond the public court record.
Read it for yourself
Read the brief. Share the record.
The strongest case here is the record itself. Read the brief, read the statement, and help make sure this case is understood for what it is.
AfghanEvac is a nonprofit policy, advocacy, and communications organization. It is one of three amici curiae in A.A. and F.A. v. Mast and is not a party to the case or counsel to any party. This page summarizes a legal filing for the public and the press and is not legal advice. All facts stated here are drawn from the public court record, including filings by the United States government and the courts’ own findings. The child and her family are identified only as the court records identify them, to protect their family members who remain in Afghanistan. For the authoritative text and full citations, read the brief.