In a surprising move, the U.S. Supreme Court in December greenlighted a petition to hear an international family law dispute between an Italian father and an American mother who fled Italy to escape spousal abuse, triggering the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The Golan v. Saada case is only the fifth international child abduction case to come before the court since 1988. The Justices will now decide whether a court may consider protective measures allowing a child to be returned to its habitual residence despite a grave risk of physical or psychological harm. In doing so, the Supreme Court will have to reconcile the goal of deterring international child abduction while protecting individuals from domestic violence.