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.
No comments:
Post a Comment