November 6, 2014

LGBT Legal Cases Marriage equality Marriage Equality Trials

UPDATE: Lawyers for the Michigan couple are already drafting a petition for review in the Supreme Court.

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The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld same-sex marriaage bans in four states. Judge Sutton wrote the opinion, with Judge Daughtrey dissenting.

From the opinion:



What remains is a debate about whether to allow the democratic processes begun in the States to continue in the four States of the Sixth Circuit or to end them now by requiring all States in the Circuit to extend the definition of marriage to encompass gay couples. Process and structure matter greatly in American government. Indeed, they may be the most reliable, liberty-assuring guarantees of our system of government, requiring us to take seriously the route the United States Constitution contemplates for making such a fundamental change to such a fundamental social institution. Of all the ways to resolve this question, one option is not available: a poll of the three judges on this panel, or for that matter all federal judges, about whether gay marriage is a good idea. Our judicial commissions did not come with such a sweeping grant of authority, one that would allow just three of us—just two of us in truth—to make such a vital policy call for the thirty-two million citizens who live within the four States of the Sixth Circuit: Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee. What we have authority to decide instead is a legal question: Does the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibit a State from defining marriage as a relationship between one man and one woman?

The decision creates a circuit split: the Sixth Circuit has upheld bans, while the Fourth, Seventh, and Tenth Circuits have struck them down.

EqualityOnTrial will have more on this developing story…

Thanks to Equality Case Files for these filings

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