|
 In all of the six cases to be heard, lower court judges have sided
with gay rights advocates either by striking down state bans on gay
marriage, or by requiring state governments to recognize gay
marriages from states where they are legal.
Federal appeals courts play a crucial role in flagging legal issues
for potential U.S. Supreme Court review. So all eyes will be on
whether or not the Cincinnati court concurs with other courts that
have backed gay marriage in the past year.
"The courts that have ruled so far have created a judicial consensus
that is striking and almost unprecedented on a civil rights issue,"
said James Esseks, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union,
which backs gay marriage.
Gay marriage opponents do not dispute that, but point out that the
U.S. Supreme Court will ultimately decide the issue.
"Everybody knows that regardless of what a particular court rules,
this will eventually end up at the Supreme Court," said Austin
Nimocks, an attorney with the Alliance Defending Freedom, a
conservative group that objects to same-sex marriage.
Cincinnati's 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals specifically will
have to decide whether to uphold same-sex marriage bans in Michigan
and Kentucky, both of which were approved by voters in 2004. In four
other cases, the court will weigh whether Ohio, Tennessee and
Kentucky should be ordered to recognize gay marriages that take
place in states where they are legal.
Legal experts expect one or more gay marriage case to be taken up by
the Supreme Court in the term that begins this October and runs
until June 2015.
The Cincinnati-based court is the third federal appeals court to
take up gay marriage since June 2013. That was when the Supreme
Court, ruling in United States v. Windsor, struck down the federal
Defense of Marriage Act and extended spousal benefits available
under federal law to same-sex married couples.
[to top of second column] |
The Windsor decision sparked a new wave of litigation, with more
than 20 federal and state courts subsequently ruling against
same-sex marriage bans.
At the appeals court level, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
in Denver in recent months invalidated bans in Utah and Oklahoma,
while the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
struck down Virginia's ban in July.
The three judges hearing the cases in Cincinnati are Jeffrey Sutton
and Deborah Cook, both appointed by Republican President George W.
Bush, and Martha Craig Daughtrey, who was appointed by Democratic
President Bill Clinton.
Lawyers on both sides will pay close attention to Sutton, who is
seen as a star among conservative lawyers and could be the deciding
vote.
Currently, 19 states and the District of Columbia allow same-sex
marriage.
(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley, additional reporting by Joan
Biskupic; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Tom Brown)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
