Mass. High Court To Hear Out-Of-State Gay Marriage Appeal

[davidinalameda]

http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/10/100405massAppeal.htm

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court will hear a challenge Thursday to the state's ban on out-of-state same-sex couples marrying in the Commonwealth.

After the high court ruled on May 17, 2004 that it was unconstitutional for the state to deny same-sex couples the right to marry Gov. Mitt Romney dusted off a 1913 law that says marriage licenses cannot be issued to people who reside in states where those marriages would not be legal.

The law was written when most states did not recognize interracial marriage. After the US Supreme Court ruled that laws barring interracial couples from marrying was illegal the Massachusetts statute fell into disuse.

[TaleWgnDg]

1. more on Cote-Whitacre et al v. DPH et al. (SJC #09436)

. . . more on Cote-Whitacre et al v. DPH et al (SJC #09436)


"SJC-09436
Cote-Whitacre v. Department of Public Health
Same-sex Marriage -- This case raises questions regarding the Massachusetts statutes forbidding issuance of a marriage license to non-resident, same-sex parties whose state of residence may not recognize same-sex marriages."
("The summaries of cases for oral argument were prepared by Marc G. Perlin, Associate Dean and Professor of Law at Suffolk University Law School. The summaries are not an official part of the court proceedings, and are presented so that those who access the website will have a general understanding of the legal issues in the cases set for oral argument.")
http://www.suffolk.edu/sjc/summaries/summaries10062005.html


1.) Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC), public docket (online) record: http://www.ma-appellatecourts.org/search_number.php?dno=SJC-09436 , e.g., "(oral argument on) Thursday, October 6th 2005, 9:00 AM, Attorney Batt (plaintiff/appellant for cities/towns) 10 min; Attorney Granda (plaintiff/appellant of G.L.A.D for gay couples) 10 min; Assistant Attorney General (defendant/appellee for Massachusetts) 20 min. Presiding: Marshall, C.J., Greaney, Ireland, Spina, Cowin, Sosman, Cordy, JJ. Courtroom One, Second Floor, John Adams Courthouse, One Pemberton Square, Boston, Massachusetts"

2.) Watch/listen to a LIVE webcast of the above oral arguments at that above date and time, here: http://www.suffolk.edu/sjc/ (apparently, Cote-Whitacre is first on the docket to be argued on that date and time . . . )

3.) The webcast of Cote-Whitacre (as well as SJC oral arguments of other cases) will be/are archived here: http://www.suffolk.edu/sjc/
.