Equality has come to Nevada and West Virginia. Joe Jervis quips:
When you get to post a new Wikipedia map twice in a few hours, that was a very good day for our people. When you get to post a new Wikipedia map eight times in four days, that was one of the best weeks in our history.
Lyle Denniston checks in on those states without marriage equality:
A decision by the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday to nullify a ban in Idaho (along with the ban in Nevada) created the likelihood that prohibitions would soon be set aside also in Alaska, Arizona, and Montana. However, Idaho has a challenge pending with Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy; the same-sex couples involved in that case filed their response late Thursday afternoon, arguing that state officials “point to nothing that would justify” postponement of the Ninth Circuit decision “only days after the Court denied every other petition presenting the same claim.”
A decision by the Tenth Circuit against bans in Oklahoma and Utah (and left intact by the Supreme Court on Monday) suggested that similar prohibitions would be ended in Kansas and Wyoming. In Wyoming, a federal trial judge on Thursday scheduled a hearing for October 16 on whether to allow same-sex couples to begin marrying in that state. In Kansas, state officials have said they were studying the situation, but a state judge in a district in the Kansas City metropolitan area on Wednesday ordered clerks in that district to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
A case in Alaska begins today. Zack Ford examines the situation on North Carolina:
North Carolina is another state where a change could come quite soon. The state stopped defending the ban back in July, but several GOP lawmakers, led by House Speaker and U.S. Senate candidate Thom Tillis (R), are trying to take up the fight. To advise them,they’ve even hired National Organization for Marriage Chairman John Eastman. While their motion to intervene in the case has not yet been considered, a federal judge ruled Thursday night that they will not be granted the eight-day extension they requested. They have until noon Friday to file their finalized motion to intervene, and the case could advance — or be resolved — quite quickly after that.
Dahlia Lithwick and Sonja West take a closer look at Kansas and South Carolina:
The state is presumably under the jurisdiction of the 10th Circuit, which also covers Utah, whose appeal was batted away by the Supreme Court on Monday. The 10th Circuit ruling that same-sex marriage bans are unconstitutional should therefore be the law in Kansas. Moreover, state law provides that a clerk who issues a license to “unqualified” people could be found guilty of a misdemeanor. So on Wednesday, Chief District Judge Kevin Moriarty of Johnson County issued an order directing the district court clerk to issue licenses to same-sex couples without fear of prosecution, reasoning that state laws—statutory or constitutional—are void if they contradict federal law, and that after Monday Kansas is bound by the 10th Circuit decision. But other judges in the same county disagree. And a judge in a different county has already denied a couple seeking a license because, in her view, Kansas’ ban on same sex marriage has not been explicitly struck down.
Meanwhile, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt and Gov. Sam Brownback declined to accept the Johnson County ruling. Brownback issued a statement Wednesday night indicating that “An overwhelming majority of Kansas voters amended the constitution to include a definition of marriage as one man and one woman.” The statement asserted, “Activist judges should not overrule the people of Kansas.” Is Judge Moriarty an “activist Judge”? Or is he merely aware of the existence of the Supremacy Clause? Who knows?
Over in South Carolina? Same deal. Depending on which courthouse you visit, you can procure either a marriage license or a refusal.
(GIF by David Mendoza)
