Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum
has called on a federal judge to reject the National Organization for
Marriage's (NOM) attempt to intervene in a lawsuit challenging
Oregon's ban on gay marriage.
Rosenblum is among a handful of
Democratic attorneys general who have refused to defend such bans in
court.
NOM, the nation's most vociferous
opponent of marriage equality, filed a motion to intervene in the
case on April 21, 2 days before U.S. District Judge Michael McShane
heard arguments in the case.
(Related: Oregon
to judge hearing challenge to gay marriage ban: No rational reason
for ban.”)
In a brief filed Friday, Rosenblum said
that NOM's “motion should be denied as untimely.”
“Delay would not be a particular
factor here if NOM had acted with reasonable speed when it knew the
Attorney General's position, in February,” Rosenblum stated in her
brief. “It chose not to, and should not be rewarded for its delay
by obtaining its own separate briefing schedule, its own hearing on
its own arguments, and a later decision on the plaintiffs' rights.”
Rosenblum also countered claims by NOM
President Brian Brown that his group was delayed because it was
unaware of Rosenblum's position until March.
“NOM has not given any good reason
for its decision to wait. NOM president Brian Brown has submitted a
sworn declaration that he did not learn until March 2014 'that the
Attorney General of Oregon and the other defendants in this case were
not going to defend Oregon's marriage laws in this litigation.' That
isn't true. In the motion itself, NOM says that it learned the state
defendants' position when they filed Answer on February 24, 2014.
That is closer, although it is not the correct date either. … NOM
learned the state defendants' position and publicly criticized it on
February 20, 2014.”
Rosenblum also argued that NOM would
not have legal standing to appeal any decision to a higher court.