aGameOfThrones
02-03-2014, 09:27 PM
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker was sued by four same-sex couples seeking the right to marry in the state and to overturn a law that threatens them with imprisonment if they wed in another state.
The complaint, filed today in federal court in Madison by the American Civil Liberties Union, follows those by advocates seeking to expand recognition for gay couples beyond the 17 states where such marriages are allowed. Similar litigation is pending in states including Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida, Michigan and Utah.
The statute makes it a criminal offense to go outside the state to “contract a marriage prohibited under the laws of Wisconsin.”
Wisconsin’s criminal provision is similar to marriage evasion laws in other states dating back 100 years, said Robin Fretwell Wilson, director of the Family Law and Policy Program at the University of Illinois College of Law.
This type of legislation “dates back to states trying to enforce incest restrictions,” Fretwell Wilson said. “States had to have all these different devices considering we don’t have borders.”
Advocates of gay marriage moved the fight for recognition to the state level following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June that left standing an order ending California’s ban on same-sex marriage. The ruling also struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, a law that denied federal benefits to gay couples.
State Laws
The court didn’t say whether similar state laws should also be struck down, leaving lower courts to grapple with that issue.
Inconsistencies in the current patchwork of state laws make it likely that the U.S. Supreme Court will ultimately address the issue, said Roberta Kaplan, the New York attorney who represented Edith Windsor in her successful DOMA challenge.
‘Full Citizenship’
“We’ve never had a situation in our country like this, not for at least half a century, where a citizen has all the rights of full citizenship in one state and then they walk half a mile across the state border and half those rights are gone,” Kaplan said in a phone interview. (hasn't heard of Puerto Rico where the Bill of Rights does not apply in full)
Tom Evenson, a spokesman for Walker, a Republican, didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment on the complaint.
In an e-mail, Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, also a Republican, said he plans to vigorously defend the state’s marriage law.
“This constitutional amendment was approved by a large majority of Wisconsin residents,” Van Hollen said. “I believe the amendment is constitutional.”
Wisconsin’s ban violates the U.S. Constitution’s guarantees of due process and equal protection, according to the complaint. The law sends a message that lesbians, gay men, and their children are “second-class citizens,” the ACLU said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-03/wisconsin-s-criminal-gay-marriage-ban-challenged-by-aclu-1-.html?cmpid=yhoo
The complaint, filed today in federal court in Madison by the American Civil Liberties Union, follows those by advocates seeking to expand recognition for gay couples beyond the 17 states where such marriages are allowed. Similar litigation is pending in states including Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida, Michigan and Utah.
The statute makes it a criminal offense to go outside the state to “contract a marriage prohibited under the laws of Wisconsin.”
Wisconsin’s criminal provision is similar to marriage evasion laws in other states dating back 100 years, said Robin Fretwell Wilson, director of the Family Law and Policy Program at the University of Illinois College of Law.
This type of legislation “dates back to states trying to enforce incest restrictions,” Fretwell Wilson said. “States had to have all these different devices considering we don’t have borders.”
Advocates of gay marriage moved the fight for recognition to the state level following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June that left standing an order ending California’s ban on same-sex marriage. The ruling also struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, a law that denied federal benefits to gay couples.
State Laws
The court didn’t say whether similar state laws should also be struck down, leaving lower courts to grapple with that issue.
Inconsistencies in the current patchwork of state laws make it likely that the U.S. Supreme Court will ultimately address the issue, said Roberta Kaplan, the New York attorney who represented Edith Windsor in her successful DOMA challenge.
‘Full Citizenship’
“We’ve never had a situation in our country like this, not for at least half a century, where a citizen has all the rights of full citizenship in one state and then they walk half a mile across the state border and half those rights are gone,” Kaplan said in a phone interview. (hasn't heard of Puerto Rico where the Bill of Rights does not apply in full)
Tom Evenson, a spokesman for Walker, a Republican, didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment on the complaint.
In an e-mail, Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, also a Republican, said he plans to vigorously defend the state’s marriage law.
“This constitutional amendment was approved by a large majority of Wisconsin residents,” Van Hollen said. “I believe the amendment is constitutional.”
Wisconsin’s ban violates the U.S. Constitution’s guarantees of due process and equal protection, according to the complaint. The law sends a message that lesbians, gay men, and their children are “second-class citizens,” the ACLU said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-03/wisconsin-s-criminal-gay-marriage-ban-challenged-by-aclu-1-.html?cmpid=yhoo