A federal appeals court on Tuesday
ordered Indiana officials to recognize the marriage of a terminally
ill lesbian.
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in
Chicago ordered the state to recognize the 2013 Massachusetts
marriage of Niki Quasney and Amy Sandler.
The couple asked the court to order the
state to recognize their marriage so Quasney, who has stage 4
ovarian cancer, can be listed as married on her anticipated death
certificate and Sandler listed as her surviving spouse.
U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young in
April issued a temporary order requiring officials to recognize the
couple's marriage. Last week, Young struck down the state's marriage
ban as invalid, which led to a rush of gay couples to marry at county
clerk offices.
(Related: Federal
judge strikes down Indiana's gay marriage ban; Weddings begin.)
Attorney General Greg Zoeller turned to
the appeals court to stay Young's broader ruling as the state pursues
an appeal. Because these cases had been consolidated, staying
Young's decision ordering the state to begin issuing marriage
licenses also set aside Young's order directing the state to
recognize the couple's marriage.
Zoeller argued for the court to deny
the couple's request.
“As human beings, the defendant state
officials and their lawyers cannot help but empathize with the plight
of Niki Quasney and Amy Sandler,” Zoeller wrote in a brief. “All
concerned express their sympathy to the couple and their family, and
no one doubts the sincerity or personal importance of their appeals
to a sense of dignity, pride, and inclusion as reasons for bringing
this case and making their motion to this Court. But Indiana
marriage law, which both the Supreme Court and this Court have
indicated should remain in force during the pendency of same-sex
marriage appeals, permits no hardship exceptions for recognition of
same-sex marriages. Indeed, mindful that this request involves just
one couple in very narrow and sympathetic circumstances, and that it
is not merely the Court and parties but the general public that is
watching this case, the State has extensively researched this matter
but can find no provision within our legal system that would allow
for some extraordinary relief, or humanitarian exception to the rule
of law that would grant what petitioners request. If this Court can
find such an exception that would apply, this circumstance surely
warrants its use.”
The appeals court on Tuesday also
expedited the appeal in Young's broader ruling.
(Brief provided by Equality
Case Files.)