Mass. Pro Gay Lawmakers Fight Back

[William769]

(Boston. Massachusetts) A group of Massachusetts legislators targeted in a $5 million dollar lawsuit by a conservative action organization for not voting on a proposed amendment to ban same-sex marriage have given it 21 days to withdraw the action or face legal action.

The 21 lawmakers call the federal suit, filed by VoteOnMarriage, the umbrella group behind the amendment, "frivolous" and "without merit".

VoteOnMarriage went to federal court two weeks ago, accusing the lawmakers of violating their constitutional duty when they voted to recess a joint session of the legislature to avoid a vote. (story)

The suit names all 109 lawmakers who voted in favor of recessing until Jan. 2, the last day of the current session.

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/12/123006mass.htm

Thanks for the backbone & not letting them walk all over you.

[TaleWgnDg]

1. This is the most ridiculous lawsuit I've seen in quite some time . . .

"frivolous" and "w/o merit" is legal-speak for "cripe, this lawsuit is so damn stupid that I should file a lawsuit against it to claim it's a waste of my (and the court's) good time, energy, and plainly too damn expensive to defend against it."

There's so damn many legal holes and unsubstantiated crap in voteonmarriage.org's claims as it's filed in federal court. http://www.telladf.org/UserDocs/VOMcomplaint.pdf
(freebie copy of voteonmarriage.org's complaint as filed in federal district court, Worcester, Massachusetts)

Once again, this federal lawsuit (as was the last Supreme Judicial Court lawsuit) was filed not for its legal significance or winnability, but merely for political hype and free advertising and newsprint/television/radio coverage. Hear me on this. Yes, these lawsuits are filed not to actually win the case but to make headlines, smear their message, as well as to cower their opposition. Using the courts, particularly the federal courts, in this manner can make judges really pissed-off. Hopefully, a similar reaction will emanate from the state legislators who are named as defendants in this stupid lawsuit. Apparently, it has. Let's see what happens next. Will the state legislators file an abuse of process claim (and other claims) against these anal retentive religion-into-law Neanderthals?

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edited to add:

"Yesterday, 14 of the lawmakers sent a countersuit to VoteOnMarriage.org asking it to withdraw the lawsuit. If the group refuses, the countersuit, which argues that lawmakers are immune from liability for legislative actions, is automatically filed with the court. Lawmakers are scheduled to take up the amendment again when they gather in a joint session on Tuesday, the last day of their session. (AP)"
. . . more at http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/12/30/legislators_countersue_marriage_group/

. . . and . . . more at http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2669991

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