Topeka ? The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday denied a Marine’s efforts to delay proceedings in a custody battle over his 2-year-old son.

Cpl. Levi Bradley, who lost residential custody of his son while he was in Iraq, had asked a lower court to suspend legal proceedings in the custody fight with his former wife until he returned to Kansas.

Bradley, who is now at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, cited a federal law that allows military personnel to temporarily defer civil actions while they are in active service.

In its ruling on Friday, the Supreme Court said that Bradley did not provide the right documentation to have the court proceedings delayed, and that a lower court judge had the authority to place the boy with his mother, Amber Bradley, 19.

The Supreme Court did not rule on the question of whether the custody decision was correct.

Levi Bradley, 21, had asked the District Court to place his son with his mother, Starleen Bradley, until he returned from active duty. Starleen Bradley said that Friday’s ruling was “a slap in the face of military personnel.”

The ruling will have little practical effect for the Bradleys. The lower court judge had awarded the couple joint custody and residential custody to Amber Bradley. But Starleen Bradley said she’ll fight that arrangement in court.

The larger question involves the Servicemember’s Civil Relief Act, which allows active duty personnel to delay legal proceedings by submitting petitions showing why they cannot participate in the case and giving a date when proceedings can continue.

The act can also suspend attempts to collect debts or interest payments, or to evict an active duty service member from a residence.

The service member is required to present the documents needed to qualify for protection.

If that doesn’t happen, a judge decides whether to delay proceedings.