A federal judge on Thursday ruled that
Michigan officials must recognize the marriages of 300 gay and
lesbian couples.
The weddings took place in four
counties the day after U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman struck
down Michigan's ban on March 21, a Friday. The Cincinnati-based
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay on Friedman's ruling
after the couples had exchanged vows.
While the federal government said that
it will honor the marriages, Republican Governor Rick Snyder refused
to do so, prompting eight of the couples to file a federal lawsuit to
have their marriages recognized by the state.
“The fundamental question in this
case is whether officials of the State of Michigan are violating the
United States Constitution by refusing to recognize the marital
status of same-sex couples whose marriages were solemnized pursuant
to Michigan marriage licenses issued in accordance with Michigan law
in effect at the time of the marriages,” U.S. District Judge Mark
A. Goldsmith wrote in his 47-page
ruling. “This Court concludes that the continued legal
validity of an individual's marital status in such circumstances is a
fundamental right comprehended within the liberty protected under the
Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”
On November 6, a 3-judge panel of the
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Michigan's ban and those in
Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. Plaintiffs in all four challenges have
appealed to the Supreme Court, which could decide as early as Friday
whether to hear one or several of the cases.
Lawyers representing Michigan argued
that the Sixth Circuit's ruling upholding Michigan's ban invalidated
the marriages.
“Consequently, from a legal
standpoint, because the marriages rested solely on the district
court's erroneous decision, which has now been reversed, it is as if
the marriages never existed, and Plaintiffs' requests for benefits
attendant to a legal marriage must be denied,” the
state said in its filing.
Goldsmith disagreed: “Even though the
court decision that required Michigan to allow same-sex couples to
marry has now been reversed on appeal, the same-sex couples who
married in Michigan during the brief period when such marriages were
authorized acquired a status that state officials may not ignore
absent some compelling interest – a constitutional hurdle that the
defense does not even attempt to surmount. In these circumstances,
what the state has joined together, it may not put asunder.”
The ruling is stayed for 21 days.
(Brief provided by Equality
Case Files.)