Wednesday, September 14, 2005

NYC Marriage Licenses on Appeal

The inference of the AP reporter, Samuel Maull, covering New York City SSM arguments is that this will end up in the legislature. Lambda Legal's Susan Sommer argued to a five-judge appeals panel that not granting marriage licenses to same sex couples denies them equal protection and due process under the state constitutional law.

The article
says, "Some of the judges seemed unreceptive to Sommer's arguments. They asked several times whether her issues should be before the Legislature rather than the courts." She responded that it was the court's duty to ensure individual rights and review as necessary.

New York City Attorney Leonard Koerner represented an appeal of state Supreme Court (not New York's highest court) Justice Doris Ling-Cohan ruled Sommer's way in February. Koerner added that the City's mayor, Michael Bloomberg, is in favor of same-sex marriage, but does not want "the chaos" of different rules in different cities in the state.

If this ends up back in Albany for the lawmakers, it will continue the odd bifurcation. Some states governments try to push the issue to the courts and others to the legislature.

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