Plaintiff couples in one of two
lawsuits challenging Arizona's ban on gay marriage on Monday asked a
federal court to merge the lawsuits into one.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs asked a U.S.
District Court to consolidate the cases to save time and effort.
Both of these cases “call for
determinations of substantially the same question of law, involve a
common defendant, and would entail substantial duplication of labor
if they are heard by different judges. … Plaintiffs are unaware of
any 'inconvenience, delay, or expense' that would result from
consolidation. No substantive briefing has occurred in either case,”
the lawyers said in a motion.
Arizona approved a law prohibiting gay
couples from marrying in 1996. An Arizona appeals court
subsequently upheld the law. Voters in 2008 approved a referendum
placing the ban in the Arizona Constitution.
(Document
provided by Equality Case Files.)