A federal judge today struck down Michigan's state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages, saying that it violates the equal protection right in the 14th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution.
I honestly have lost count, these state bans have been falling so fast. Some of them are on appeal, others will be appealed. Some states' attorneys general are not going to defend their laws on appeal; some of those states will hire outside lawyers to do so. There is a lot of gray area right now.
However, one thing is very clear. No federal judge has yet upheld a state ban. Every one that has been ruled on in federal courts has been over-turned. The list includes Utah, Oklahoma, Virginia, Texas, and Michigan. A federal judge in Kentucky ruled that the state must honor the rights and benefits of marriage for those who have been married in states where it is legal.
And all of that is in addition to 17 states and the District of Columbia where marriage equality has been made legal by either state courts, legislative action, or voter referendum.
If all these recent decisions are upheld on appeal, then some 175,892,000 or 56% of all U. S. citizens will live in a jurisdiction with marriage equality.
With each decision, it seems more likely that SCOTUS will take it up sooner, rather than later.
Ralph
[NOTE: This post was corrected on 3-22-14. It was Kentucky, not Tennessee, that had a recent ruling over-turning the state's ban on recognizing same-sex marriages performed in states where it is legal. Same-sex marriage itself in Kentucky was afftected by this ruling.
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