UPDATE:Â Late on Tuesday, May 13th, Idaho’s marriage ban was ruled unconstitutional. The governor has vowed to take the case to the Supreme Court.
Arkansas state trial judge Christopher Charles Piazza has struck down another ban on marriage equality on the basis of its unconstitutionality. In his 13-page ruling, he wrote, “The exclusion of a minority for no rational reason is a dangerous precedent.†References were to SCOTUS’ discredited ruling in the 1857 Dred Scott v. Sandford that stated black people “had no rights or privileges but such as those who held the power and the government might choose to grant them†and Loving v. Virginia which eliminated bans on interracial marriage. “It has been over forty years since Mildred Loving was given the right to marry the person of her choice. The hatred and fears have long since vanished and she and her husband lived full lives together; so it will be for the same-sex couples. It is time to let that beacon of freedom shine brighter on all our brothers and sisters. We will be stronger for it.â€
The case will most likely go to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals which upheld Nebraska’s ban on same-sex marriage in 2006. That decision was made before United States v. Windsor, which found a key part of DOMA to be unconstitutional and which Piazza heavily referenced. Another lawsuit against Arkansas’ ban is pending in a Little Rock federal district court. More than 70 lawsuits seeking marriage equality are pending in 30 states.
The day after the judge’s ruling, almost 20 licenses were awarded to same-sex couples in Eureka Springs, the only place in the state that handles license applications on Saturday. The sheriff closed the office at 1:00 pm as usual. Whether these marriages are legal remains to be seen because the lawsuit listed only six counties, and Eureka Springs is not in one of these. On Monday, Pulaski County and five others counties named in the lawsuit may begin issuing marriage license to same-sex couples. The other counties are divided about whether they follow suit. The Department of Health, which issues birth certificates, and the Department of Finance and Administration, which processes tax returns, must also comply with the judge’s orders unless a stay is issued. The state has requested a stay. If Piazza refuses, the state Supreme Court could receive a request for one. The U.S. Justice Department has ordered federal agencies to recognize all same-sex marriages that are legal when entered into.
In Oregon, a proposed measure to allow business owners to discriminate against same-sex couples in marrying has been withdrawn the week after it was ready for collecting almost 88,000 signatures before July 1, 2014. Friends of Religious Freedom complained that the ballot language by the state attorney general’s office was unacceptable because it made the initiative seem intolerant. The approved description for a “Yes†vote reads “creates ‘religious belief’ exceptions to anti-discrimination laws.†The organization now plans to pursue lawsuits on behalf of business owners objecting to same-sex weddings.
In other Oregon news, the National Organization of Marriage was unable to publicly announce the name of a single Oregonian in their bid to take over defense of the state’s marriage ban after the state’s Attorney General said she would no longer defend the ban.
Alaska residents filed a case in a U.S. District Court this week challenging their state’s ban on same sex marriage. Five couples have signed on as plaintiffs and they have named a number of government officials including the governor and state attorney general as defendants. This leaves the only three states without a marriage equality case on the books as Montana and the Dakotas.
