Supremes Snub Michael Jackson

Wed., May. 24, 2006 5:55 PM PDT by Joal Ryan

Michael Jackson is running out of options with ex-wife Debbie Rowe.

The California Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to hear an appeal by the entertainer regarding Rowe's parental rights to their two children.

"We're very gratified," Rowe attorney Eric M. George said Wednesday.

It's the second big victory this year for Rowe. In February, a California appeals court agreed with the former Mrs. Jackson that her rights as a mother to son Prince, 9, and daughter Paris, 7, had been restored per a 2004 lower court ruling.

Jackson sought to challenge the ruling with the state Supreme Court. But with that body passing, as first reported by TMZ.com, the pop singer's next step would be to take his act before nine robed figures in Washington, D.C.

"I would find it inconceivable that Mr. Jackson would seek an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on that issue," George said.

A message seeking comment from Jackson's attorney was not immediately returned Wednesday.

Elsewhere, in Los Angeles, a superior court judge ruled that all documents relating to the singer's and Rowe's legal tussles be filed in open court within 60 days.

The celebrity news site TMZ.com had argued for months for the curtain to be parted on Rowe vs. Jackson, a case that dates back to Rowe's 1999 divorce petition.

"Just because something may be embarrassing for the parents, it doesn't mean it should be unavailable for the court," Marci Koch, an attorney for TMZ.com, said Wednesday. "...We feel that no matter who is in the courtroom, everyone should be treated equally."

Jackson and Rowe had flown under the radar by hiring a retired judge to hear their matter privately, standard operating procedure in celebrity cases. The case is now in public family court.

Among the documents Koch said she expected to see once the filings are made is one from Rowe apparently alleging child abduction and calling for the return of her offspring to the United States.

Jackson and his three children, the two by Rowe, and the youngest by a surrogate mother, have been living in the Middle East since the pop singer was acquitted of child molestation charges last year.

Jackson and Rowe split in 1999 after three years of unconventional marriage (the two never shared a home). In testimony at Jackson's criminal trial last year, Rowe said she'd last seen her children in 2001, the same year she terminated her parental rights.