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MA, USA: Federal Court in Boston Hears DOMA Case

Wednesday, April 4th, 2012

A lawyer for gay married couples argued Wednesday that a law that denies them a host of federal benefits given to heterosexual couples amounts to “across-the-board disrespect” and should be struck down as unconstitutional.

The 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, is being challenged in two cases before the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The law also prevents the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages.

In arguments to the court, Paul Clement, a lawyer for the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, defended the law, saying Congress had a rational basis for passing the law known as DOMA in 1996, when it appeared Hawaii would become the first state in the nation to legalize gay marriage and opponents worried that other states would be forced to recognize such marriages.

Full Story from the AP

Click here for gay wedding resources in Massachusetts.

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Tags: appeal, boston, defense of marriage act, doma, federal court, massachusetts

CA: Gay Activists Ask Ninth Circuit to Turn Down Prop 8 Appeal

Friday, March 2nd, 2012

Supporters of same-sex marriage urged a federal appeals court in San Francisco Thursday to decline to reconsider a ruling that struck down California’s Proposition 8.

Last month, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled by a 2-1 vote that Proposition 8, a voter-approved ban on gay and lesbian marriage, violates the U.S. Constitution.

The sponsors of the initiative have asked the appeals court to have an expanded 11-judge panel reconsider that decision.

Full Story from NBC Bay Area

Click here for gay wedding resources in California.

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Tags: appeal, gay activists, ninth circuit, prop 8

House GOP Appeals DOMA Decision in California

Friday, February 24th, 2012

On Wednesday a federal court struck down Section 3 of DOMA as unconstitutional. Today GOP House Speaker John Boehner ordered that ruling appealed.

In court papers, a group of congressional Republicans defending the federal gay marriage ban revealed they are appealing the ruling to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The 9th Circuit will become the second federal appeals court to now consider the legality of the Defense of Marriage Act, a 16-year-old law known as DOMA.

The Obama administration has sided with Golinski in the case, arguing that DOMA is unconstitutional. Republicans, led by House Speaker John Boehner, have jumped in to defend the law, filing the notice of appeal on Friday. With cases unfolding in several federal courts, many experts predict the issue will wind up in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Full Story from Joe.My.God

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Tags: appeal, doma defense of marriage act, gop, house, john boehner

CA: The Prop 8 Case, A Primer

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012

The proponents of Proposition 8 have filed the necessary paperwork today asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to reconsider the three-judge panel’s decision on Feb. 7 in Perry v. Brown that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional.

The lead attorney for the proponents of Proposition 8 told Metro Weekly earlier today that they would be filing such a motion. After the judges receiving a full briefing from the parties as to whether the matter should be reheard, all active circuit judges will vote as to whether an en banc rehearing should be held.

If a majority vote in the affirmative, the chief judge of the circuit, Alex Kozinski, and 10 other randomly selected circuit judges will hear the appeal.

Full Story from Metro Weekly

Click here for gay wedding resources in California.

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Tags: appeal, california, lawsuit, marriage equality, primer, prop 8

CA: Supporters Ask for Full 9th Circuit Ruling on Prop 8 Case

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012

With Tuesday serving as the deadline for Prop. 8 proponents to request another appeal on the ruling that declared the voter initiative unconstitutional, proponents of California’s same-sex marriage ban say they’re seeking a full review by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Prop. 8 attorney Charles Cooper tellsMetroWeekly that he is seeking en banc review for the case — Prop. 8 was declared unconstitutional in 2010 by a federal judge, and a three judge appellate panel upheld that ruling two weeks ago.

Now, the group ProtectMarriage, behind the 2008 antigay initiative, are seeking more of the Ninth Circuit to review the case. A majority of the approximately 20 Ninth Circuit judges have to approve an en banc review. Because the Ninth Circuit is a large circuit, they could approve a partial en banc, which would allow 11 judges to rule on the constitutionality of Prop. 8.

Full Story from The Advocate

Click here for gay wedding resources in California.

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Tags: 9th circuit, appeal, california, en-banc, Gay Marriage, marriage equality, proo 8

CA: Last Day for Appeal to Full 9th Circuit for Prop 8 Proponents

Tuesday, February 21st, 2012

Tomorrow, February 21, marks a big deadline in the Prop 8 case that those of us who have been counting the days since the 9th Circuit’s decision have been eagerly anticipating: the last day that the proponents of Prop 8 can file a petition for rehearing with the 9th Circuit. The proponents have 14 days from the initial decision to do so, meaning that if they do not request an en banc review of the February 7 decision with a larger panel of the appeals court, the 3-judge panel’s ruling will be the last word at this level of appeal.

At this point, there’s no reason to speculate whether or not the proponents will actually file for a rehearing tomorrow, as they may be waiting until the last moment to do so. One question that is probably on many minds though is what happens to the stay depending on the proponents’ actions tomorrow.

In its ruling on February 7, the 9th Circuit wrote that the mandate (that is, the official notice of the decision) will not go into effect until 7 days after the deadline for a rehearing petition expires, or 7 days after a rehearing is denied. What that means is that the 9th Circuit’s stay on Judge Walker’s ruling striking down Proposition 8 will be lifted 7 days after tomorrow’s deadline (February 28), should the proponents choose not to file for rehearing. If the proponents do file for a rehearing, the stay is automatically extended until that rehearing is either denied or it is accepted and then ruled on, both of which could take some time.

Full Story from the Prop 8 Trial Tracker

Click here for gay wedding resources in California.

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Tags: appeal, en-banc review, marriage equality, ninth circuit, prop 8

How Will the Prop 8 Case Play Out?

Sunday, February 12th, 2012

Three years and three months have now passed since California voters amended their state constitution with Proposition 8, banning same-sex marriage throughout the state. The first legal challenge began the next day, and others followed — first in state court, then in federal court. Many who have been following the case have assumed, perhaps from the beginning, that the controversy would ultimately reach the Supreme Court. After the ballot measure was struck down this month by the Ninth Circuit Court, a California newspaper, the Orange County Register, asked: “Next stop: the Supreme Court?” Maybe not, or, at least, maybe not for a while.

The Ninth Circuit Court has a system (in some ways peculiar to that court) allowing other judges potentially to second-guess a three-judge panel’s decision like this one, and the system does not really depend upon what the lawyers involved ask. The Court can go en banc on its own, in a limited form, and then it can go en banc once again, in a broader form. It might do so in reaction to a request from some of the lawyers involved, or it might do so on its own without waiting for a request. Either way, it could take a considerable amount of time before there is something final to take to the Supreme Court in Washington.

Those who sponsored Proposition 8, and got it approved with a 52.3 percent majority vote among California voters on November 4, 2008, have said they are studying their options, but they definitely have already committed themselves to challenging the three-judge panel ruling at some higher level. There have been some hints, among some in that camp, that they would rather go on to the Supreme Court now, and bypass further review in the Ninth Circuit.

Full Story from Scotusblog

Click here for gay wedding resources in California.

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Tags: appeal, ninth circuit, prop 8, supreme court

CA: Prop 8 Supporters Plan Next Move

Thursday, February 9th, 2012

Anti-gay-marriage forces were charting their next move this week after a three-judge federal appeals court panel ruled that Proposition 8, the 2008 California ballot measure banning same-sex unions, is unconstitutional.

ProtectMarriage, the Christian conservative sponsor of Prop. 8, is expected to announce next week whether to ask a larger panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider Tuesday’s ruling, a decision that could postpone U.S. Supreme Court review for months.

Andy Pugno, general counsel for ProtectMarriage, noted that a judge on the 9th Circuit might independently call for fellow jurists to vote on whether to review the ruling. Whether such a vote would gain majority support remained doubtful, law professors said.

Full Story from The Los Angeles Times

Click here for gay wedding resources in California.

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Tags: appeal, ninth circuit, opponents, prop 8

Marriage Equality Advocates Expect Quick Victory in Prop 8 Lawsuit Appeal

Thursday, November 17th, 2011

Backers of same-sex marriage predicted they would end up victorious despite a California Supreme Court decision Thursday that the sponsors of Proposition 8 and other ballot measures are entitled to defend them in court.

“While a disappointing ruling, this case is now back in federal court, where we expect a quick victory,” Lambda Legal’s Jon Davidson. “The ruling addresses only a procedural legal question. The key question underlying this case is whether the U.S. Constitution permits a state electorate to treat one group of people unequally to everyone else by depriving them of what the state’s high court has held to be a fundamental right.

A federal court has already ruled that it may not. We look forward to seeing that decision upheld so that same-sex couples in California may once again enjoy the freedom to marry.

Full Story from The Los Angeles Times

Click here for gay wedding resources in California.

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Tags: appeal, Gay Marriage, lawsuit, marriage equality, prop 8

AZ: Governor Brewer Appeals Court Decision, Wants to Throw Gays Off Health Care Plan

Thursday, September 29th, 2011

Two top state officials are asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to let Arizona deny benefits to the domestic partners of its gay state and university employees.

Legal papers filed by Attorney General Tom Horne contend a three-judge panel of the appellate court wrongfully concluded earlier this month that it is illegal for the state to provide health care and other benefits to the partners of married workers while refusing to do the same for same-sex couples. He said the state is allowed to make such distinctions.

Horne, who filed the appeal on behalf of Gov. Jan Brewer, also said it is legally irrelevant that Arizona voters constitutionally banned gays from getting married, even though that means they have no legal way to get benefits for their partners.

Full Story from the AZ Daily Star

Click here for gay wedding resources in Arizona.

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Tags: appeal, arizona, gay couples, governor jan brewer, health benefits