Nebraska may be the 38th state to do away with same-sex marriage bans.
The Lincoln Journal-Star reports, Judge strikes down state’s ban on same-sex marriage:
A U.S. district judge has struck down Nebraska’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage, but county clerks across the state won’t be issuing marriage licenses just yet.
“Pursuant to the Memorandum and Order [54] entered this date, IT IS ORDERED that all relevant state officials are ordered to treat same-sex couples the same as different sex couples in the context of processing a marriage license or determining the rights, protections, obligations or benefits of marriage,” Judge Joseph Bataillon wrote in the order. “IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that this order will be effective on Monday, March 9, 2015, at 8:00 a.m. CDT.”
Read the Order Here (.pdf).
The effective date in his order means that there will be no rush to the courthouse this Monday, avoiding administrative chaos.
Fifty-five minutes after the ruling, Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson filed an appeal.
The state had asked Bataillon to allow for at least 14 days before an injunction would go into effect. The judge gave a week.
The state is expected to file a motion seeking a stay that, if successful, would put the date on hold.
The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals could grant the stay, let Bataillon’s order stand or temporarily extend the day it goes into effect, according to Michael Gans, clerk of the court for the Eighth Circuit.
He said the court typically wants to hear from both sides before deciding, but that could be done within the week.
“The court is well aware of the consequences of allowing things to proceed and then throwing it in reverse,” Gans said.
ACLU of Nebraska Executive Director Danielle Conrad said her group will work on all fronts to oppose a stay so that “this very strong, very broad ruling can take effect.”
Monday’s decision came in an ACLU-backed lawsuit brought in November by seven Nebraska couples seeking the right to marry and to have marriages performed legally in other states recognized here.
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Monday marks the second time Bataillon has struck down the ban in Nebraska, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman in order to be valid and recognized.
In 2005, in a case titled Citizens for Equal Protection v. Bruning, Bataillon issued a 43-page order declaring the ban unconstitutional. It is Section 29 of the Nebraska Constitution.
“The court finds that section 29 inflicts ‘immediate, continuing, and real injuries that outrun and belie any legitimate justifications that may be claimed for it,'” he wrote then.
“The court also finds that even if the goal of preservation of the traditional definition of marriage is a worthy and legitimate goal, there is an inadequate fit between that goal and the breadth of section 29.”
The state appealed Bataillon’s ruling, and the Eighth Circuit overturned it in 2006.
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The Eighth Circuit also is to hold oral arguments in Omaha in May in same-sex marriage cases in three other states: South Dakota, Arkansas and Missouri. Gans, the clerk of the court, said the Nebraska case could be added.
“I guess we’ll have to wait and see what they ask the court to do,” he said.
In each of those cases, federal judges lifted bans on same-sex marriage, but stayed their own rulings to allow for anticipated appeals.
If the 8th Circuit wants to weigh in before the U.S. Supreme Court rules at the end of June, it will have to expedite its ruling to get it in before the Supreme Court. The 8th Circuit ruling is likely to stand only a shirt time before the U.S. Supreme Court decides the issue.
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