Plaintiffs Want Court To Consolidate Cases Challenging Arizona's Gay Marriage Ban
- By
- Carlos Santoscoy
- | March 25, 2014
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.