Latest Civil Marriage Laws Map

With the decision today from a Montana judge, marriage licenses are now being issued in all the states within the jurisdictions of the 9th, 10th, and 4th Federal circuit courts and these appellate courts' rulings striking down same-sex marriage bans.  Same-sex couples can now marry in 35 of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia.

There's still LOTS going on:

• State officials in South Carolina, Kansas, and Montana continue to try to fight marriage legalization even as some counties in these states are issuing licenses.  In Kansas the legal situation is chaotic with the state Supreme Court allowing marriages to go forward in some counties but not clearly stating that marriage licenses must be issued statewide.
• In the 6th Circuit, a 2-1 split decision upheld marriage bans in MI, OH, KY, and TN.  This split has now been appealed to the US Supreme Court.  Based on the 6th Circuit's decision -and in spite of prior public statements by Michigan's Republican governor that the state was issuing legal marriage licenses- Michigan's Republican Attorney General is now claiming that 300 or so same-sex marriages that occurred there before a stay never legally existed.  This is a lawsuit in the making for sure.
• A Federal judge in Puerto Rico has also upheld that island territory's marriage ban and so that case will now head to the 1st Circuit where every state has same-sex marriage including Massachusetts, the first state to adopt same-sex marriage.
• Court cases also continue in the 8th, 5th, and 11th Circuits.

ACA Open Enrollment Starts

Open enrollment through the Affordable Care Act starts tomorrow (November 15, 2014) and runs through February 15, 2015.  Here is a map updated in October for which states are providing their own health insurance exchanges and which are relying on the Federal www.healthcare.gov.  For the initial 2013-2014 enrollment period, the state exchanges outperformed the Federal exchange generally with Kentucky's KYNect being the star of the show.

Election 2014: Marijuana Laws

Recreational Marijuana:  Alaska, the District of Columbia, and Oregon on November 4th became the latest US jurisdictions to legalize recreational marijuana.  The vote in DC, however, must be approved by Congress so it may not go through.

Medical Marijuana:  The US territory of Guam also approved medical marijuana.  The majority of Florida voters did vote to approve medical marijuana in the Sunshine State, but the vote narrowly missed the 60% of votes cast needed to approve medical marijuana in Florida.