Louisiana will appeal a federal court ruling that ordered it to list two men on their adoptive son’s birth certificate, according to the Associated Press.

As paraphrased by the AP, the state’s Secretary of Health said today that the court order forces Louisiana “to grant more legal recognition to the couple than required under the U.S. Constitution.” He added, again as paraphrased by the AP, “Levine says New York’s adoption law does not control Louisiana’s administration of vital records.”

The boy, who was born in Louisiana, was adopted by the men in New York. A federal district court in Louisiana ruled on Dec. 22 that the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution requires Louisiana to recognize the New York judgment that established the adoption and must issue the child a new birth certificate that lists the two men as his parents.

Louisiana appears to have a weak case, in light of longstanding case law that gives one state very little discretion to refuse to honor the judgments of other states. Other cases have rejected similar claims that recognizing an adoption judgment is tantamount to compulsory recognition of a same-sex union.

Still, the appeal will go before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which is one of the more conservative appellate courts in the federal system.

The district court decision was Adar v. Smith, Civ. Action No. 07-6541, 2008 WL 5378130 (E.D. La. Dec. 22, 2008).