This Week In Marriage Equality -- Tipping Point

This week there was one favorable marriage equality ruling. A federal judge in South Carolina ruled in favor of marriage equality. The injunction is stayed until November 20. The state defendants have filed an appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. And, they have also requested a stay pending appeal from the Fourth Circuit (good luck with that). You can read more about that decision here.

In Mississippi, there was a marriage equality hearing on Wednesday in Jackson. Reports seem to indicate that it went well. You can read one of those reports here.

In Kansas, the state AG requested a stay pending appeal of that state's marriage equality ruling from the Tenth Circuit, and the motion was denied. The AG then went to the SCOTUS to request the stay pending appeal, and the SCOTUS denied the motion as well (Justice Sotomayor referred the request to the entire Court -- and, Thomas and Scalia would have granted the stay). There are still some counties in Kansas that are resisting the marriage equality ruling, however a statewide resolution is expected on Monday from the state Supreme Court. In the meantime, NOM has encouraged the Governor, the AG, and the county clerks to defy the federal court order.

There was a marriage equality hearing scheduled for November 20 in Montana. The district court judge has cancelled that hearing. He will rule based on the written filings. From the Bozeman Daily Chronicle:

A U.S. District Court judge has vacated a hearing in a lawsuit filed by four couples who seek to overturn Montana’s ban on same-sex marriage.

Judge Brian Morris had originally set a hearing for federal court in Great Falls on Thursday, Nov. 20, after the plaintiffs' lawyers filed a motion for summary judgement in their lawsuit to strike down the state’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

However, Morris vacated the hearing a week before it was scheduled and will rule on the plaintiffs' motion based on the court documents already submitted.

Amy Cannatta, communications director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana, said Morris asked both the plaintiffs, who are represented by the state’s ACLU legal director, as well as the state, if the hearing was necessary.

In South Dakota, a federal judge has denied state defendants' motion to dismiss the marriage equality case in that state. Actually, the judge dismissed the plaintiffs' right to travel claim, however they can move forward with the due process and equal protection claims. The state has ten days to respond to the plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment.

Lambda Legal and the ACLU have filed a petition for certiorari to the SCOTUS for the marriage equality case out of Ohio. In addition, the NCLR has asked the SCOTUS to hear the marriage equality case out of Tennessee.