In an astonishing departure from established precedents, U.S. District Judge Juan M. Perez-Gimenez of the U.S. District Court in Puerto Rico, who had dismissed a marriage equality lawsuit on October 21, 2014, has issued a new decision on March 8, 2016, Vidal v. Garcia-Padilla, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 29651, asserting that the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on June 26, 2015 in Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 2584, that the 14th Amendment of the … <Read More>
14th Amendment
Federal Judge Refuses to Dismiss Michigan Transgender ID Case
A federal judge has refused to dismiss a claim by six transgender Michiganders that a state policy governing changes of sex designation on driver’s licenses and personal identification cards violates their constitutional privacy rights. The November 16 ruling in Love v. Johnson, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 154338, 2015 WL 7180471 (E.D. Mich), by Senior U.S. District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds, finds that transgender people have a fundamental right of privacy under the Due Process Clause … <Read More>
Oklahoma Federal District Court Declares Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment Unconstitutional
Yet another federal district judge has declared a state constitutional amendment that bans same-sex marriages an unconstitutional infringement of rights under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. On January 14, Senior U.S. District Judge Terence C. Kern, who has been dealing with the case of Bishop v. United States since 2004, held that the constitutional amendment adopted by an overwhelming vote of Oklahoma citizens that year, fails to meeting the deferential “rationality review” test … <Read More>
Divided 5th Circuit Panel Finds No Constitutional Privacy Protection for Lesbian High School Student
A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit voted 2-1 that a lesbian high school student did not have a clearly established constitutional right of informational privacy in her sexual orientation. Reversing a district court ruling, the panel held that two female high school softball coaches enjoy immunity from constitutional liability for “outing” the girl to her mother, in apparent retaliation for the girl having told another student that one of … <Read More>