U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III for the U.S.District Court for Pennsylvania today struck down that state’s same-sex marriage ban as unconstitutional. U.S. judge strikes down same-sex marriage ban in Pa.:
A federal judge on Tuesday struck down Pennsylvania’s ban on same-sex marriages, a landmark ruling that appeared to clear the way for the Commonwealth to become the latest state to legalize gay marriage.
The decision by U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III marked the first and most significant to date in a series of court challenges to the state’s 1996 ban.
“We are better people than what these laws represent, and it is time to discard them onto the ash heap of history,” Jones wrote in a thirty-nine-page opinion (.pdf). “By virtue of this ruling, same-sex couples who seek to marry in Pennsylvania may do so, and already married same-sex couples will be recognized as such in the Commonwealth.”
It was not immediately clear if Gov. Corbett, whose administration had defended the law, would appeal the decision. It has 30 days to do so.
In Philadelphia, Register of Wills Ron Donatucci, whose office issues marriage licenses, immediately began issuing them to same-sex couples. He also ordered the office to stay open an extra hour Tuesday, until 5:30 p.m.
The lawsuit, Whitewood v. Wolf, was brought by 23 plaintiffs who said Pennsylvania’s law violates the constitution by excluding same-sex couples from the same legal benefits and protections as heterosexual couples.
A trial was initially expected this summer. But lawyers on both sides of the case had told Jones the evidence and testimony wouldn’t expand beyond what they had already presented in arguments and filings, and urged the judge rule based on them.
“The issue we resolve today is a divisive one,” Jones wrote. “Some of our citizens are made deeply uncomfortable by the notion of same-sex marriage. However, that same-sex marriage causes discomfort in some does not make its prohibition constitutional. Nor can past tradition trump the bedrock constitutional guarantees of due process and equal protection.”
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The case before Jones, a 58-year-old Republican appointed in 2002 by President George W. Bush, was one of seven same-sex marriage cases under consideration by courts in Pennsylvania.
The state Supreme Court is considering an appeal by Montgomery County Register of Wills L. Bruce Hanes to a Commonwealth Court decision barring him from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
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In the Whitewood case, lawyers for the plaintiffs alleged that Pennsylvania’s Defense of Marriage Act, along with its refusal to marry same-sex couples or recognize such marriages from other states, violated a fundamental right to marry as well as the Constitution’s equal-protection clause.
The state’s law not only bans same-sex marriage, it specifies that the state cannot honor such marriages from other states.
The suit contended the state had no legitimate interest in banning same-sex marriage, and that the ban disparaged and injured lesbian and gay couples and their families by denying them a long list of legal and financial protections afforded to heterosexual couples.
Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane, whose office had declined to defend the law, hailed the groundbreaking decision.
“This is an historic day,” she said in a statement. “More importantly, today brings justice to Pennsylvanians who have suffered from unequal protection under the law because of their sexual orientation. When state-sponsored inequality exists, citizens are deprived of the full protections that the Constitution guarantees. Our Commonwealth progressed today and so have the hopes and dreams of many who suffer from inequality.”
Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog.com adds, Pennsylvania: Same-sex marriage ban struck down :
Judge Jones examined all of the legal issues on whether to provide greater constitutional protection for gays and lesbians against official discrimination, and found that they were entitled to it. So he applied the middle-level constitutional test — “heightened scrutiny” — and found that the Pennsylvania laws do not meet that test.
In a separate order implementing his decision, he told state officials that they were permanently barred from enforcing the state laws. His order did not mention any delay or postponement of that command. State officials have the option of asking Judge Jones or the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to issue a stay of the ruling if they were to decide to appeal.
It seems that there is a new court decision almost every day. This is the twelfth federal trial court ruling in a row to nullify a state ban on same-sex marriages. Once the federal appellate courts rule, it is a near certainty that the U.S. Supreme Court will take up those cases for review in its new term beginning in October.
UPDATE: This comes as a surprise. Corbett won’t appeal decision striking Pa. same-sex marriage ban:
Gov. Corbett on Wednesday announced he would not appeal the federal court ruling that struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriages.
In a statement, the governor repeated his personal opposition to same-sex marriage but said his administration lawyers had concluded that an appeal of Tuesday’s historic decision was “extremely unlikely” to succeed.
The decision all but ends a years-long legal battle in Pennsylvania and moved the Commonwealth into the growing column of states giving recognition and legal protection to gay and lesbian marriages.