Unanimous 7th Circuit Panel Strikes Down Wisconsin and Indiana Same-Sex Marriage Bans

Less than two weeks after roughing up attorneys for the states of Wisconsin and Indiana in a heated oral argument, a three-judge panel of the Chicago-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit issued a unanimous decision in Baskin v. Bogan, 2014 WL 4359059  (September 4, 2014), striking down the bans on same-sex marriage in those states.  Writing for the panel, Circuit Judge Richard Posner, one of Ronald Reagan’s earliest judicial appointees in 1981, … <Read More>


7th Circuit Panel Roughs Up State Attorneys in Marriage Equality Arguments

A panel of three judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, based in Chicago, gave a very rough time to attorneys from the states of Indiana and Wisconsin on August 26 during oral arguments about marriage equality appeals from those states.  Three district court rulings from Indiana and one from Wisconsin issued earlier in 2014 had found unconstitutional those states’ refusal to allow same-sex couples to marry or to recognize their … <Read More>


Federal Judge Rejects Delay in Wisconsin Marriage Equality Case

U.S. District Judge Barbara B. Crabb has rejected an attempt by Wisconsin officials to delay the marriage equality case pending before her. Ruling on March 24, Judge Crabb confirmed a schedule established by Magistrate Judge Stephen Crocker to complete briefing in the case by the end of May 2014, with arguments on a motion for summary judgment expected soon after. “Abstaining or staying the case would serve no purpose but to delay the case,” wrote … <Read More>


New Developments in Marriage Equality Cases in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania

1. Palladino v. Corbett, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27154 (E.D. Pa., March 4, 2014) – This is the marriage recognition case pending in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia. A right-wing Christian group calling itself “Philadelphia Metro Task Force” petitioned to intervene as co-defendants, in order to make arguments about morality and family values in opposition to the plaintiffs. This is a case where the state’s Attorney General has refused to defend the state’s marriage ban … <Read More>