Following the Supreme Court’s recent decision to make same-sex marriage now legal in over half of the US, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a ruling in Clark County, Nevada that banned legal same-sex unions, saying it imposes “profound legal, financial, social and psychic harms” on citizens.
On Tuesday, Oct. 7, the court reversed a US District Court ruling in favor of the state’s voter-approved marriage ban, and remanded it back to the higher court “for the prompt issuance of an injunction permanently enjoining the state, its political subdivisions, and its officers, employees, and agents” from enforcing the constitutional provision.
Clark County Clerk Diana Alba said the Marriage Bureau (located on 201 E. Clark Ave, first floor of the Regional Justice Center in downtown Las Vegas) would start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples immediately following Tuesday’s announcement.
County spokesman Erik Pappa said the 9th US Circuit Court has expedited the date when its decision to void Nevada’s gay marriage ban would take effect.
The challenge to Nevada’s ban was brought by the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund on behalf of several same-sex Nevada couples, four of whom were married in other states and four who want to get married in Nevada. The couples all want their marriages legalized in their home state.
“We are so pleased that wedding bells will finally ring for all same-sex couples in Nevada,” said Tara Borelli, a senior attorney at Lambda Legal, who argued the case before the 9th Circuit. “Based on [the court’s] clear instructions to the trial court, we expect that couples will be able to marry soon.”
The ruling also briefly lifted the marriage ban in Idaho; however, Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy issued an order temporarily blocking the unions after Idaho state officials have asked for a delay.
Justice Kennedy’s order came shortly after Idaho filed a request to the high court for an immediate stay of the appeals court ruling, the latest in an almost unbroken line of courtroom victories across the country for gay couples. Proponents of lifting the marriage ban have been asked to file a response by Thursday afternoon.
Utah, Indiana, Oklahoma, Virginia and Wisconsin were cleared for same-sex marriage, while six other petitioning states bound by the same appellate rulings were put on hold. Pending the Supreme Court’s review, same-sex couples in those states should be able to marry soon.
The appeals court’s decision is also expected to add momentum to marriage-ban challenges in other 9th Circuit states like Alaska, Arizona and Montana. Another federal appeals court, the 6th Circuit in Cincinnati, is also anticipated to rule soon on the legality of same-sex unions in Midwest states Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee.
While an appeal on the decision to the US Supreme Court is entirely possible, it doesn’t seem likely. The three panel judges Stephen Reinhardt, Ronald Murray, and Marsha Berzon, ruled unanimously to overturn the marriage bans, reflecting their concurring opinions. The ban dismissed “without merit” assertions by both Nevada and Idaho that bans on same-sex marriage would promote the welfare of children.
“Plaintiffs are ordinary Idahoans and Nevadans,” the court wrote. “Like all human beings, their lives are given greater meaning by their intimate, loving committed relationships with their partners and children.”
The judges relied heavily on the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution, according to law expert Carl Tobias, to invalidate the marriage bans. Though there are many strong opinions and opposite reactions to the decision, the state of Nevada has made up its mind.
“The lessons of our constitutional history are clear: inclusion strengthens, rather than weakens, our most important institutions,” the court publicly said. “When same-sex couples are married, just as when opposite-sex couples are married, they serve as models of loving commitment to all.”
(www.asianjournal.com)
(Las Vegas October 9-15, 2014 Sec. A pg.1)
