US Judge Throws Out Oklahoma Marriage Amendment, But Stays Ruling Pending Appeal
Gay City News, by Arthur Leonard – January 15, 2014
Yet another federal district judge has declared that a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages is an unconstitutional infringement of rights guaranteed by the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
On January 14, Senior District Judge Terence C. Kern, who has been dealing with the case of Bishop v. United States since 2004, held that the amendment adopted by an overwhelming vote of Oklahoma citizens denies same-sex couples their equal protection rights even when subjected to the most lenient standard of judicial review. The State of Utah, Kern found, provided no “rational” justification for the ban.
Kern, unlike US District Judge Robert J. Shelby in his Utah marriage equality decision last month, stayed his ruling pending Oklahoma’s appeal, which the state will undoubtedly pursue.
Like Utah, Oklahoma is within the 10th federal appellate circuit, which is already considering an appeal of the December 20 ruling out of Salt Lake City. The Utah case is on an expedited schedule, so it seems unlikely that Oklahoma would meet such a fast-track schedule unless the 1oth Circuit orders it to do so. Handling both cases in one appellate proceeding, however, would make good sense, so perhaps if Oklahoma officials decide to move quickly, this case could be consolidated with the Utah appeal. If the 1oth Circuit were to uphold both rulings, that would make US Supreme Court review, already likely with just one case, that much more of a lock.
The Oklahoma case, brought by two lesbian couples –– Mary Bishop and Sharon Baldwin, and Susan Barton and Gay Phillips –– took aim at both the 2004 state constitutional amendment and the federal Defense of Marriage Act. In more than nine years of litigation, the case took a few procedural twists and turns, including the decision by Barton and Phillips to marry in Canada and, later, in 2008, in California.
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