Federal Appeals
Court Takes Up Gay Marriage Cases
Wednesday, 06 Aug 2014 07:01 AM
By Lawrence Hurley
WASHINGTON, Aug 6 (Reuters) - The
national battle over same-sex marriage
will resume on Wednesday when a federal appeals court in Cincinnati convenes a
special three-hour hearing to consider cases that have worked their way up from
lower courts in four different states.
In all of the six cases to be
heard, lower court judges have sided with gay rights advocates either by
striking down state bans on gay marriage, or by requiring state governments to
recognize gay marriages from states where they are legal.
Federal appeals courts play a
crucial role in flagging legal issues for potential U.S. Supreme Court review.
So all eyes will be on whether or not the Cincinnati
court concurs with other courts that have backed gay marriage in the past year.
"The courts that have ruled so
far have created a judicial consensus that is striking and almost unprecedented
on a civil rights issue," said James Esseks, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, which
backs gay marriage.
Gay marriage opponents do not
dispute that, but point out that the U.S. Supreme Court will ultimately decide
the issue.
"Everybody knows that
regardless of what a particular court rules, this will eventually end up at the
Supreme Court," said Austin Nimocks, an attorney with the Alliance
Defending Freedom, a conservative group that objects to same-sex marriage.
Cincinnati's 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals specifically
will have to decide whether to uphold same-sex marriage bans in Michigan and Kentucky,
both of which were approved by voters in 2004. In four other cases, the court
will weigh whether Ohio, Tennessee
and Kentucky
should be ordered to recognize gay marriages that take place in states where
they are legal.
Legal experts expect one or more
gay marriage case to be taken up by the Supreme Court in the term that begins
this October and runs until June 2015.
The Cincinnati-based court is the
third federal appeals court to take up gay marriage since June 2013. That was
when the Supreme Court, ruling in United States
v. Windsor,
struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act and extended spousal benefits
available under federal law to same-sex married couples.
The Windsor decision sparked a new wave of
litigation, with more than 20 federal and state courts subsequently ruling
against same-sex marriage bans.
At the appeals court level, the
10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver in
recent months invalidated bans in Utah and Oklahoma, while the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Virginia's
ban in July.
The three judges hearing the cases
in Cincinnati
are Jeffrey Sutton and Deborah Cook, both appointed by Republican President
George W. Bush, and Martha Craig Daughtrey, who was appointed by Democratic
President Bill Clinton.
Lawyers on both sides will pay
close attention to Sutton, who is seen as a star among conservative lawyers and
could be the deciding vote.
Currently, 19 states and the District of Columbia
allow same-sex marriage.
6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Damon
Keith was a clerk for the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, Jennifer
M. Granholm’s clerk, and is a director
at the Detroit
Economic Club.
Note: Jennifer M.
Granholm’s clerk was Damon Keith,
a director at the Detroit Economic Club,
and is a practitioner of law & public policy at the University of California,
Berkeley.
Andrew
S. Grove was a benefactor for the University of California,
Berkeley, and
is an overseer at the International
Rescue Committee.
Clifford S.
Asness is a director at the International
Rescue Committee, a leadership council member at the Robin Hood Foundation,
and supported same-sex marriage in New York.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the International Rescue Committee, the Robin Hood Foundation,
and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
George Soros
was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, and is the founder
& chairman for the Open Society
Foundations.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Aryeh
Neier was the vice chairman for the Foundation
to Promote Open Society, the president of the Open Society Foundations, and an executive director for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
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