Morrison v. Sadler is scheduled for argument before the Indiana Court of Appeals next Monday, January 12, 2004. Here is the Case Summary from the Indiana Judiciary website:
Ruth Morrison, et al., v. Doris Ann Sadler, et al. Appellants are three same-sex couples challenging the constitutionality of Indiana Code Section 31-11-1-1, which provides that only a male may marry a female and only a female may marry a male. Appellants contend the statute violates Article I, § 23, Article I, § 1, and Article I, § 12 of the Indiana Constitution. This appeal was brought after the Appellants were denied permission to receive marriage licenses by the Hendricks and Marion County clerks, Appellants sued the clerks, and the Marion County Superior Court dismissed Appellants’ complaint. Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter has intervened in this case on behalf of the clerks.The time for the argument on Monday is 11:00 a.m. It may be viewed online in realtime or later, via this link. Many of the documents from this case may be found here, including the briefs of the parties and the Marion County Superior Court 5/7/03 order. An earlier ILB entry is available here.
A number of interesting articles on the legal aspects of same sex marriage/civil union have been published recently, including:
"No Gay Marriage Benefits at the Federal Level," from the 12/21/03 Washington Post. Access it here.
"Gay couples face hurdles in making unions legal," from the 1/1/04 Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Access it here.
"Weld, 2 ex-AGs urge passage of gay marriage law," from the 1/5/04 Boston Globe. Access it here.
"Vermont's gay civil unions mostly affairs of the heart Law didn't spur legal battles or an 'invasion'", from the 1/8/04 USA Today. Access it here.
[Update 1/9/04] "N.J. Bill OKs Same-Sex Benefits," from the 1/9/04 LA Times. Access it here. Access a longer NY Times story here.
[Update 1/10/04] "Oops! Help for Same-Sex Unions," by columnist Ellen Goodman, makes a quick survey of marriage through the ages. Access it here, via the Washington Post.
Posted by Marcia Oddi at January 8, 2004 04:49 PM