The Appellate Court of Illinois ruled in Blumenthal v. Brewer, 2014 Il App (1st) 132250, 2014 Ill. App. LEXIS 904 (Dec. 19, 2014), that a state court judge who is the former same-sex partner of a physician can maintain a legal claim on the theory of unjust enrichment to seek compensation for her financial contributions towards the home they shared and the physician’s professional practice. The court found that legislative and common … <Read More>
Lambda Legal
First Marriage Equality Ruling in from South Carolina
There are two federal district court challenges pending in South Carolina. The earlier-filed one, Bradacs v. Haley, sought recognition for a same-sex couple’s marriage contracted in the District of Columbia. It was filed by two local attorneys in Columbia, South Carolina. In a November 10 order in that case, District Judge J. Michelle Childs granted a motion to dismiss Governor Nikki Haley as a defendant in the case, finding that she played no direct role … <Read More>
Federal Courts in Missouri and West Virginia Issue Marriage Equality Rulings
On November 7, one day after the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected marriage equality claims from Ohio, Michigan, Tennessee and Kentucky, federal district courts in Missouri and West Virginia issued new marriage equality rulings. Chief U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers of the Southern District of West Virginia granted summary judgment to the plaintiffs in McGee v. Cole, a case brought by Lambda Legal and The Tinney Law Firm. Senior U.S. District Judge Ortrie … <Read More>
Federal Court in Puerto Rico Dismisses Marriage Equality Case
U.S. District Judge Juan M. Perez-Gimenez ruled on October 21, 2014, that he was bound by a precedential decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Lambda Legal on behalf of Puerto Rican same-sex couples seeking either to marry or to have their out-of-state marriages recognized by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The judge based his ruling in Conde-Vidal v. Garcia-Padilla on the 1st Circuit’s 2012 … <Read More>
Arizona Federal Court Orders State to Recognize One Same-Sex Marriage on a Death Certificate
In a ruling that eerily echoed one issued little over a year earlier, a U.S. District Court judge has ordered the state of Arizona to issue a death certificate for a gay man identifying him as a married to his same-sex spouse. The September 12 ruling in Majors v. Jeanes, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 127942, by Judge John W. Sedwick provided a close parallel to a ruling on July 22, 2012, by U.S. District Judge … <Read More>
3rd Circuit Rejects Constitutional Challenge to New Jersey’s Ban on “Conversion Therapy” for Gay Minors
A unanimous three-judge panel of the Philadelphia-based U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals decisively rejected a constitutional challenge to a New Jersey law that prohibits licensed therapists from performing “sexual orientation change efforts” (SOCE) — sometimes called “conversion therapy” — on persons under 18 years of age. The court rejected arguments that the law violates the freedom of speech and free exercise of religion of the therapist, in a September 11 opinion by Circuit Judge … <Read More>
7th Circuit Panel Roughs Up State Attorneys in Marriage Equality Arguments
A panel of three judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, based in Chicago, gave a very rough time to attorneys from the states of Indiana and Wisconsin on August 26 during oral arguments about marriage equality appeals from those states. Three district court rulings from Indiana and one from Wisconsin issued earlier in 2014 had found unconstitutional those states’ refusal to allow same-sex couples to marry or to recognize their … <Read More>
Marriage Equality Case Developments Come Hot and Heavy
As anticipation builds for the first federal appellate arguments on marriage equality since the Supreme Court’s decision last June striking down the Defense of Marriage Act’s anti-gay federal marriage definition, new developments in marriage equality litigation continue to pile up in various parts of the country.
On Thursday, April 10, a panel of three judges of the Denver-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit will hear the state of Utah’s appeal of last … <Read More>
Nevada Officials Decline to Defend Their Marriage Ban in Pending 9th Circuit Appeal
In a sharp change of course, Nevada’s governor and attorney general announced on February 10 that they would not defend the state’s ban on same-sex marriage in a case pending before the San Francisco-based U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The back-story to this development is interesting and a bit complicated:
On January 21, Nevada’s Attorney General, Catherine Cortez Masto, filed the state’s brief in Sevcik v. Sandoval, a lawsuit brought by Lambda Legal on … <Read More>
Federal Court May Approve More “Early” Marriages in Illinois
U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman issued a decision on December 10 in Edwards v. Orr, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 173801, 2013 WL 6490577 (N.D. Ill.), a class action suit brought by Lambda Legal seeking a judicial order allowing “medically critical plaintiffs” in same-sex couples to get marriage licenses in advance of the official June 1, 2014, implementation date for the same-sex marriage amendment signed into law by Governor Pat Quinn on November 20. Because … <Read More>