The Court of Appeals of Arizona, Division 1, affirmed a ruling by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Suzanne E. Cohen, holding that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 2584 (2015), does not require Arizona to retroactively deem a woman to be a legal parent of children adopted by her same-sex spouse at a time when Arizona did not recognize their same-sex marriage or allow second-parent adoptions. Judge Jon … <Read More>
recognition of same-sex marriages
Arkansas Trial Court Orders State Recognition of “Window Period” Marriages
An Arkansas trial judge ordered the state on June 9 to recognize and extend all rights and privileges of marriage to more than 500 same-sex couples who married during May 2014 while the state sought a stay of a trial judge’s order striking down Arkansas’s same-sex marriage ban.
On May 9, 2014, Arkansas Circuit Judge Chris Piazza ruled in Wright v. State of Arkansas, 60CV-13-2662, that the state’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, … <Read More>
Judicial Attention Shifts Back to Marriage Recognition as Federal Judge Nixes Kentucky Ban
One of the first federal court decisions to apply the Supreme Court’s June 26 DOMA ruling to the question of state marriage recognition came quickly last July, when U.S. District Judge Timothy S. Black in Ohio ordered the state to recognize a Maryland same-sex marriage for purposes of a death certificate. That court order was followed up by a detailed opinion in December in Obergefell v. Wymyslo, 2013 WL 6726688 (S.D. Ohio, Dec. 23, 2013), … <Read More>
Houston Mayor’s Order Sparks Court Battle on Partner Benefits
In November, recently re-elected openly lesbian Mayor Annise Parker of Houston, Texas, directed the city’s Human Resources department to recognize the out-of-state same-sex marriages of city employees for benefits
purposes, to be effective January 1, 2014. Harris County Republican Chair Jared Woodfill found two taxpayers willing to be plaintiffs in an action challenging Parker’s directive, which was filed on December 17 in Harris County District Court. District Judge Lisa Millard issued an order blocking Parker’s … <Read More>
Circuit Judge Dings DOMA and Oregon Marriage Amendment in Grievance Ruling on Benefits
Judge Harry Pregerson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, sitting as Chair of the 9th Circuit’s Standing Committee on Federal Public Defenders, ruled that Alison Clark, an assistant federal public defender in the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the District of Oregon, is entitled to received coverage for her same-sex spouse under the Federal Employees Health Care Benefits Program. In the Matter of Alison Clark, Case No. 13-80100
… <Read More>