Sarah Palin Wants Restraining Order Extended

By Stephanie Rabiner, Esq. on May 10, 2011 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Last fall, Shawn Christy proved that one's distaste for Sarah Palin can go a bit too far.

After being accused of making threats and sending Palin a receipt from a handgun purchase, an Anchorage magistrate granted the politician a restraining order against Christy.

Now Sarah Palin wants that order extended--and to include his parents.

As reported on FindLaw's Celebrity Justice, the original restraining order against Shawn Christy also included Palin's good friend, Kristin Cole.

In a motion before the local magistrate, Sarah Palin and Kristin Cole have requested that the order be extended for another 6 months, and that it include protection for Palin's father.

They have also requested that a protection order be granted against Christy's parents, Craig and Karen, reports the AP.

The two are accused of leaving harassing phone messages for Sarah Palin, her parents and Cole's children.

While it's clear that the Anchorage magistrate has jurisdiction over Shawn Christy, the AP reports that his parents claim that the Alaska court can't issue a restraining order because they don't live in the state.

What they, and many stalkers, fail to understand is that, when your actions directly impact a person in another state, that state has jurisdiction over your person even if you don't live there.

This is called personal jurisdiction.

Not only that, via the Constitution's Full Faith and Credit Clause, every other state in Union must respect any order that court levies against you.

In other words, if Craig and Karen Christy were making threatening phone calls that directly impacted Alaskan residents, and the Alaskan court issues a restraining order against them, every state in the country has to enforce that order.

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