Tag: Idaho

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Idaho: Gov. Butch Otter requests Ninth Circuit Court 11-judge panel to review same-sex marriage ruling

Idaho Gov. Butch Otter

Gov. Butch Otter of Idaho has filed a request with the Ninth Circuit Appeals Court to hear his state’s appeal regarding the recent same-sex marriage ban’s repeal to be heard by a full 11-judge panel instead of the usual 3-judge panel.

From the Spokesman.com:

“Because the marriage issue is so passionately contested and so divisive among the citizenry, the perception of the legitimacy of this court’s resolution of it must be of paramount concern,” attorneys for the governor argue in their motion. “A decision by an 11-judge panel stands far higher and stronger than does a decision by a three-judge panel, just as a decision by a three-judge panel stands far higher and stronger than does a decision by a single judge.”

U.S. Magistrate Judge Candy Dale last month overturned Idaho’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, saying it violated the U.S. Constitution’s guarantees of equal protection and due process; four Idaho couples had sued, saying their constitutional rights were violated by the state not allowing them to marry or not recognizing their legal marriages from other states.

The appeal was immediately filed with the Ninth Circuit Court when the initial ruling was issued. However, it is unusual to go directly to a full “en banc” hearing. Normally, an appeal works it’s way through a 3-judge panel, and then to “en banc” as an appeal or directly to the US Supreme Court.

The Ninth Circuit Court has ordered that the case be handled swiftly, with briefing over the summer and arguments in the second week of September.

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Idaho: GOP Gubernatorial Debate Supercut

JoeMyGod points up this supercut of the recent GOP gubernatorial debate – and what a cast of characters!

The video is dominated by Harley Brown, the biker guy:

Idaho GOP gubernatorial candidate Harley Brown is running as the “candid candidate,” and he rode the candidness to the end of the line during a debate Wednesday evening, calling political correctness “bondage,” and defending his right to impugn everyone from Jews to blacks to “these bondage types” on his campaign website. It all started when a moderator asked Harley about the “Harleyisms” posted on his website. Samples: “A while back I visited Israel and discovered the REAL reason Jewish men get circumcised – Because Jewish women won’t touch anything that is not at least 20% off.” “Riding a Jap bike is like f_cking a faggot. I guess it feels OK until somebody sees you doing it.”

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Idaho: Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals puts hold on marriage equality during state’s appeal

Late Tuesday,  U.S. District Judge Candy Dale ruled that Idaho’s ban on marriage equality was unconstitutional, and said the order would take effect this Friday at 9am.

Now, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has put a stay on that ruling while the state government heads to the Appeals Court.

A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued this single sentence ruling: “The district court’s May 13, 2014 order is temporarily stayed pending this court’s disposition of appellants’ emergency motions for a stay pending appeal.”

Seventeen states and the District of Columbia currently allow same-sex marriage.

(source)

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Idaho: Judge refuses request to stay marriage equality ruling

Click image to enlarge

After yesterday’s ruling from Judge Candy Dale in Idaho overturning the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, Gov. Butch Otter requested the judge put a stay on the ruling while the state appeals the decision.

Today, Judge Dale refused that request saying:

“The State’s continued enforcement of its laws against same-sex marriage irreparably harms Plaintiffs and other same-sex couples.

“Given the ongoing potential for irreparable injury to both sides, the equities do not sharply favor the Governor.  Nor does the public interet favor preserving a status quo that deprives individuals of their constitutional rights.

“The Court finds a stay pending appeal is not warranted.”

The original court ruling is scheduled to go into effect Friday morning at 9am. Expect the Governor & company to head over to the Ninth Circuit Appeals Court with another request for stay.

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Idaho: Judge strikes down same-sex marriage ban

Freedom To Marry shares the news that today U.S. Magistrate Judge Candy Dale, a federal judge in Idaho, ruled in favor of the freedom to marry, striking down the state’s discriminatory constitutional amendment that bans same-sex couples from marriage.

The judge says Idaho’s marriage laws violate the couples’ rights under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

From the ruling:”Idaho’s marriage laws. relegate their gay families to a stigmatized, second-class status without sufficient reason.”

The judge stated that the order takes effect this Friday at 9am.

The ruling is the 16th consecutive victory in state and federal court for the freedom to marry since the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Windsor v. United States in June 2013. The ruling is the 12th win in federal court for marriage since June.

The decision was filed in Latta v. Otter, a federal case filed by the National Center for Lesbian Rights last fall that seeks the freedom to marry and respect for marriages legally performed in other states.

It comes just a few days after a May 5 hearing in the case, where Judge Dale heard arguments on the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment.

(via press release)

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Idaho: Marriage equality lawsuit begins Monday

Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter

Marriage equality in Idaho gets it’s day in court come Monday when a federal judge will hear a challenge to the state’s gay marriage ban on Monday, the Times-News reports:

Four Boise-based same-sex couples are challenging Idaho’s constitutional ban after Ada County refused to issue marriage certificates or recognize marriages from other states. Similar bans in other states, including Utah’s, have recently been struck down in district-level federal courts and are under appeal.

The Idaho suit was filed in November against Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter and Ada County Clerk Chris Rich.

In their request, the couples argue that Idaho’s ban on marriage for same-sex couples violates the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the U.S. Constitution.

Argument will be heard before Chief United States Magistrate Judge Candy W. Dale at 9:30 a.m.

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Idaho: US Army Colonel offers his own burial plot to veteran lesbian couple

Now this is the sign of a class act. When something is wrong, some folks do what it takes to fix the problem.

Retired U.S. Army Colonel Barry Johnson has offered his burial plot to a veteran Idaho lesbian who was refused the right to be buried in a military cemetery next to her late wife, who also served in the armed forces.

U.S. Navy veteran Madelynn Taylor asked for and was denied the right to be buried next to her deceased wife as they did not have the Idaho marriage license required under its rules. Her longtime lesbian partner, Jean Mixner, died in 2012.

From Colonel Johnson’s letter:

As a lifelong Idahoan and a 27-year Army veteran of two wars, I’ve worked beside heterosexuals, gays, lesbians and bisexuals. I’ve really never wanted to hear about anybody’s sex life or sexual preferences, one way or another. Besides, everybody more or less knew who is who regardless, and I don’t recall anybody in the military ever saying a thing about it. Never.

Frankly, the only thing traumatic about the policy change for our armed forces of allowing gays to openly serve our country was all the media making a big deal about it. It didn’t change a thing for any of us doing the job. Serving in uniform has always been about earning trust and has never been about sexuality.

Most of us just shrugged and endured sitting through hours of mind-numbing briefings on a change that essentially changed nothing.

Then we have Madelynn Taylor, who seems like one heck of a lady. She cared for another person with all her heart and had to watch that person die. She is a veteran. She loves her country. She wants her partner by her side and she wants to eternally rest among veterans in the state she made home.

Madelynn, you deserve that.

I’ll tell you what. I will donate the plot I earned in the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery to you and Jean. I am happy to give my fellow veteran that small peace of mind. And I do it to honor all the great Americans I’ve served with along the way – gay, straight, whatever. (I don’t know whether it is possible to donate my plot, but I am quite sincere about my willingness to do so.)

Like Madelynn, I love this state and I respect the views of all my neighbors, whether I agree with those views or not. At least having those differences makes for interesting conversations. But let’s not pick on people who aren’t hurting anybody and simply minding their own business.

Give Madelynn and Jean and others like them a break. Stop finding reasons to make life – and in this case, death – harder than it needs to be.

That’s just irritating as hell and disrespectful to boot.

You can read the entire letter here.

(via Idaho Statesman)

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Idaho lawsuit filed on behalf of marriage equality

And today we add Idaho to the ever-growing list of lawsuits filed on behalf of marriage equality.

Via press release from the National Center for Lesbian Rights:

Today, four same-sex couples filed a federal lawsuit in Boise challenging Idaho’s laws that prohibit same-sex couples from marrying and refuse to respect the legal marriages of same-sex couples who married in other states.

The couples, all from Boise, include university instructors, a teacher of deaf children, and a military veteran who served with the Idaho National Guard in Iraq. Three of the couples are raising children together.

The lawsuit argues that Idaho’s laws barring same-sex couples from marrying and prohibiting the state from recognizing the marriages of same-sex couples who married in other states violates the United States Constitution’s guarantees of equal protection and due process.

The couples are Sue Latta and Traci Ehlers, Lori and Sharene Watsen, Shelia Robertson and Andrea Altmayer, and Amber Beierle and Rachael Robertson. They are represented by Boise attorneys Deborah A. Ferguson and Craig Durham and the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR).