Brad Pitt’s appeal of a court order disqualifying the judge in his custody fight with Angelina Jolie was denied by the California Supreme Court on Wednesday.
The court turned down a request for a review of a June appeals court decision that ruled the private judge hearing the case should be disqualified for failing to disclose his business ties to Pitt’s lawyers.
The decision of the state Supreme Court brings that decision to a close. It could suggest that the dispute over the couple’s five minor children, which seemed to be coming to a close, is just getting started.
“Ms. Jolie is focused on her family and delighted that unethical behavior will not guide her children’s well-being,” her lawyer, Robert Olson, said in an email.
Pitt’s lawyer had previously claimed that Jolie’s attempt to disqualify the judge was motivated by a desire to prevent the judge’s tentative custody ruling, which favored Pitt, from going into force.
The Supreme Court ruling, according to a statement released by Pitt on Wednesday, “does not affect the incredible amount of factual evidence that caused the trial judge — and the many experts who testified — to reach their unequivocal determination about what is in the best interests of the children.”
For 12 years, Jolie, 46, and Pitt, 57, were one of Hollywood’s most famous couples. John Ouderkirk, a retired Los Angeles County Superior Court judge, presided at their 2014 wedding and was then recruited to manage their divorce when Jolie filed for divorce in 2016.
In 2019, he declared the couple divorced, but he kept the child custody issues separately.
Jolie and Pitt have six children: Maddox (20 years old), Pax (17), Zahara (16), Shiloh (15), Vivienne, and Knox (13), all of whom are in their twenties. Custody decisions affect only the five minors.