The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has tentatively scheduled oral arguments for the week of Jan. 5 in a lawsuit challenging Texas’ same-sex marriage bans.
In February, U.S. District Judge Orlando L. Garcia struck down the marriage bans as unconstitutional in DeLeon v. Perry. However, Garcia stayed his decision pending an appeal, and Attorney General Greg Abbott appealed it to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court in New Orleans.
The Texas case will be heard the same week as another marriage case from Louisiana, which is also in the 5th Circuit.
In September, U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman upheld Louisiana’s marriage ban in Robicheaux v. Caldwell, becoming the first federal judge to uphold marriage discrimination since June 2013.
A married couple in Kansas, Phillip and Sandra Unruh, has filed for and been denied the opportunity to intervene in the state’s same-sex marriage lawsuit.
In what was a very “unlikely to succeed” strategy, the Unruhs filed a brief saying that allowing same-sex couples to marry is “deeply disturbing,” “inflicts profound harm” on them, and is tantamount to a literal theft of their own marriage.
In other words, the Unruhs claim is that “marriage” is for straight people and giving it to gays means stealing it from heterosexuals.
A Harper, Kansas couple is upset after a judge said they can’t be a part of a same-sex marriage lawsuit filed earlier this month. The judge claimed they could not be parties in the casebecause their views will be represented. So now, they’re writing an amicus brief to have their opinions heard.
“We were disappointed that we weren’t allowed to become parties in the court case but we are also excited about the fact that the judge invited us to file an amicus brief which means friend of the court,” Phillip Unruh said. “It means the judge has allowed us into the court case and will consider our written arguments.”
As thrilled as Phillip Unruh may be, just about anyone can file an amicus brief.
The judge in the case gave the Unruhs until 5pm tomorrow to file their amicus brief.
Can’t wait for that one!
In related news, the crackpots over at Westboro Baptist Church (located in Kansas) have filed a similar request to intervene in the state’s marriage equality fight. Expect a similar rebuke from the court on that one, too.
The number of states with marriage has gone up yet again this week. Only a handful of states are stil trying to defend their marriage bans, and they’re quickly running out of ways to delay their inevitable loss.
A straight couple in Kansas has filed a new anti-gay lawsuit, and it’s nuts.
A federal judge just ruled against the freedom to marry, but his decision has virtually no chance of being upheld.
Plus, there’s a powerful new lawsuit in Mississippi.
This year’s parade grand marshals for the Fantasy Fest Parade, Aaron Huntsman and William Lee Jones, won a landmark court ruling overturning Florida’s statewide same-sex marriage ban for Florida Keys residents. A subsequent appeal by Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi means they still can’t marry, but their parade float proclaimed their desire to tie the knot.
“Our float was designed for us. It’s a wedding cake with the rainbow over top of it symbolizing the marriage equality that we’re aiming for,” said Jones, who rode atop the float with Huntsman while 33 other couples in wedding attire marched beside it.
“I hope that our appearance as grand marshals of Fantasy Fest will show the rest of the state, and our state attorney general and our governor, that we’re all one human family and that we need equality now,” said Huntsman. “And no more wasting taxpayers’ money. Let’s get it done.”
More than 50,000 spectators, some dressed in flamboyant costumes lined Key West’s downtown streets for the procession of more than 40 motorized floats and costumed marching groups.
First, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi asked courts in Florida to hold on any legal action regarding same-sex marriage because she hoped the US Supreme Court would handle the issue and she wouldn’t have to get her hands dirty.
Then, when SCOTUS declined to review any of the appellate court cases sent their way, Bondi asked to take the issue in Florida straight to the state Supreme Court, skipping the normal appeals court route.
The 3rd District Court of Appeal on Friday indicated it will likely rule itself on previous decisions striking down the Miami-Dade and Monroe counties bans.
Several Florida judges ruled this summer that Florida’s ban is unconstitutional but stayed their rulings until other cases around the country were resolved, including those pending with the U.S. Supreme Court. It recently declined to hear appeals from five states that sought to keep their marriage bans in place. The American Civil Liberties Unions, and attorneys for the couples in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties then sued to overturn the stay.
Should Bondi and the state of Florida lose in the District Court of Appeals (which she will), she will then be able to file another appeal with the state Supreme Court.
Dragging this whole thing out when we can all see the end game already…
As expected, Attorney General for Florida – Pam Bondi – has filed a brief in opposition of lifting a stay on a ruling which would allow same-sex marriage to begin.
The stay in question was set to expire today. Bondi filed at pretty much the last minute.
Earlier this month the US Supreme Court paved the way for marriages for same-sex couples to commence in 13 states by refusing to hear appeals of five circuit court rulings that found state bans unconstitutional. The ACLU and lawyers for plaintiffs in a concurrent case immediately asked Judge Hinkle to lift the stay he put in place in January when he declared the ban a violation of equal protection and due process.
On two occasions in the past month, the United States Courts for the 9th Circuit lifted a stay while decisions on marriage equality in Idaho and Alaska are appealed. The U.S. Supreme Court also refused to order the court to keep the stay in place while appeals continue, despite appeals from the defense. Both the Circuit Court and the U.S. Supreme Court stated that they will not make couples wait to marry while appeals are pending.
“Even if she continues to pursue an appeal, Attorney General Bondi should not hold our state and our families hostage by calling for the stay to remain in place. Should she choose to appeal, let her follow the lead of the 9th Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court and allow marriages to commence. Every day that Floridians are denied access to the protections only marriage can provide, our families suffer,” added Smith.
The Arkansas Supreme Court has set November 20th as the date it will hear arguments concerning a challenge to the state’s gay marriage ban.
From Buzzfeed’s legal eagle Chris Geidner:
Breaking: Oral argument in the Arkansas Supreme Court for the marriage case has been scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday, November 20. — Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) October 23, 2014
Even before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Nevada’s same-sex marriage ban, Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval had made clear that he would not appeal the ruling should the anti-gay law be found unconstitutional.
Sandoval and the state’s Attorney General didn’t even defend the law in the 9th. Due to “heightened scrutiny” required in cases involving sexual orientation, he and AG Catherine Cortez Masto admitted the law could not be defended.
True to his word, when the unanimous ruling was handed down by the 3 judge panel of the 9th Circuit, Sandoval said “done,” allowing gays and lesbians to begin marrying.
However, the folks over at the Coalition for the Protection of Marriage – the same group that got the law on the ballot back in 2002 – jumped in and defended the law in the 9th Circuit. And, of course, lost.
Now the Coalition is requesting the 9th Circuit consider re-hearing the lawsuit en banc, which would mean a panel of 11 judges versus the normal 3 judge panel which has already heard the case.
En banc reviews are difficult to get as a majority of the Court’s 29 judges have to agree to consider the case.
University of California, Irvine, law professor Doug Nejaime told the Washington Blade, “Given the Supreme Court’s action a couple weeks ago, there may not be many judges that want to spend resources reviewing the panel decision. And then there is certainly reason, given that Perry [the case that struck down California’s Proposition 8] was also decided in the Ninth Circuit, to think a different result is unlikely.”
In a short statement on Wednesday, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal, Sandoval said Nevada opposes the attempt by the Coalition for the Protection of Marriage to appeal the ruling, and hopes such opposition will lead to closure on the issue.
In an interesting bit of news, it seems the Sarah Palin, the former half-term governor of Alaska, has endorsed not her former Lt. Governor – Sean Parnell – who replaced her when she chose to quit in her first term, but his opponent, Independent candidate Bill Walker.
Parnell’s 2013 restructuring of the state’s oil and gas taxes dismantled a prior, Palin-championed program that she considered to be one of the greatest achievements of her tenure. That difference of opinion is at the heart of Palin’s conflict with Parnell, which resulted in the two campaigning on opposite sides of a ballot measure in this year’s primary.
It’s worth noting that when Gov. Parnell indicated that he would appeal the recent ruling against the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, Walker issued a statement that he felt an appeal would be an “unwise use of our dwindling resources:
Walker, an attorney, responded later Sunday with criticism of the state’s decision to appeal the ruling. A recent ruling from the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — which includes Alaska in its jurisdiction — said bans on same-sex marriage violate the due process and equal protection clauses of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Such higher court rulings make the probability of a successful appeal when similar bans have already been overturned in other states unlikely.
Walker said he personally viewed marriage as existing between a man and a woman, but added that if he were governor, he would “uphold the laws of the land.”
“Despite my personal views on marriage, with the state’s dire financial crisis, pursuing expensive litigation that has little chance of victory is an unwise use of our dwindling resources.”
Alaska’s Gov. Sean Parnell has requested an en banc review of the recent same-sex marriage ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals which effectively struck down the state’s ban on marriage equality.
Saying the original 9th Circuit ruling was based on “erroneous circuit precedent.” Gov. Parnell says the citizens of Alaska are “stripped of any ability to vindicate their ‘historic and essential authority to define the marital relation.'”
Gov. Butch Otter of Idaho has filed a similar request with the 9th Circuit for an en banc hearing regarding same-sex marriage.
