Custody battle over British girl goes to US Supreme Court She was arrested on Christmas Eve 2010 after allegedly threatening him with a knife, which she denies. Miss Hales was arrested earlier that month for public drunkenness, after getting into a fight with a taxi driver. She was seen staggering from the taxi in a police video recording of the arrest. No charges were ultimately brought, but she was deported after US authorities realised that she had overstayed a tourist visa and was not entitled to stay in the US. A court granted her "humanitarian parole" to return briefly to fight her earlier custody bid. She left with Eris shortly after the verdict and has not returned to the US since. Sgt Chafin recounted to the Telegraph how he only had 20 minutes in the court car-park to say goodbye to Eris. "It was horrible," Sgt Chafin said outside the Court. She didn't know what was going on. She didn't understand and she was looking to me for answers and I couldn't give them to her. "Eris is my everything," he said. That's why I'm fighting so hard to get her back into a safe place. I told her I would do everything in my power to get her back, and that's what Daddy's doing. Sergeant Chafin (left) with his lawyer, Michael Manely, outside the Supreme Court Last year, Sgt Chafin had an appeal rejected when an Alabama judge ruled that due to an unusual legal restriction, courts in the region had no power to hear custody appeals after a child had left the US. "The implication is that the government of the country where a child has lived can't do anything for that child," said his lawyer, Michael Manely. That's just too frightening to be a reality. In Washington yesterday, Mr Manely urged the nine justices of the Supreme Court to overturn the decision and allow Sgt Chafin to bring a fresh appeal in the US over custody of Eris. However Miss Hales' lawyer, Stephen Cullen, argued that the 1980 Hague Convention was designed to return children to their home countries without delay, and that US courts no longer had jurisdiction. "Once the doors close on that plane, and that child arrives back in Scotland, it's over," said Mr Cullen, who became the first Scottish-qualified lawyer ever to argue before the Supreme Court. Yesterday's oral arguments saw the rare appearance of a domestic dispute at the Supreme Court. Its justices agree to hear only those cases they believe address important questions of federal law or national significance - typically 80 or so out of the 8,000 they receive each year. The justices will now consider the case and could take six months to deliver their ruling. Even if they side with Sgt Chafin, it would not guarantee Eris's return to the US. Mr Cullen said there was "no way" Scottish officials would comply with an order from a US court to return the child and would instead wait for a verdict from the Court of Session in Edinburgh. Sgt Chafin said last night that Eris was being shielded from the drama. "It's not for her to know at this age," he said. When she's older she will know, but right now I would just rather she play with her dolls instead of being concerned about big court battles.