Two gay couples challenging Texas' ban
on gay marriage have asked a federal judge to allow same-sex couples
in the state to begin marrying immediately.
U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia
struck down Texas' ban as unconstitutional in February. He stayed
his ruling pending an appeal from the state.
Texas Attorney General and
Governor-elect Greg Abbott appealed the ruling to the Fifth Circuit
Court of Appeals in New Orleans, which has scheduled oral arguments
for January 9.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs urged Garcia
to lift the stay, arguing that actions taken by the U.S. Supreme
Court have “radically and permanently” changed “the
constitutional environment in which the Court initially entered the
stay.”
“The Court should immediately lift
the stay because the Supreme Court's actions following entry of the
stay no longer support its continuance,” the lawyers wrote in its
filing. “The Supreme Court denied certiorari in appeals from
the Fourth, Seventh, and Tenth Circuits' decisions that state laws
banning same-sex marriage were unconstitutional. The denial of
certiorari dissolved the stays in place over those cases. Since
then, the Supreme Court denied requests for stays (or actually lifted
stays) in other cases. While these cert denials concededly do not
have legal significance, the constitutional environment in which the
Court initially entered the stay have now changed radically and
permanently. Fully two-thirds of citizens of the United States now
have an enforceable federal constitutional right to marry the person
of their choice, irrespective of gender.”
(Brief provided by Equality
Case Files.)