New Mexico

The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled this week that a private prison company can be held liable for three female inmates who were raped by a guard, The Associated Press' Morgan Lee reports. The Corrections Corporation of America was found liable for $3 million in damages.

That award is on appeal to the Tenth Circuit. The federal circuit court certified a legal issue to the New Mexico Supreme Court on whether the prison operator could be found liable when the employee was aided in committing the rapes due to his job position. The state court ruled affirmatively on the question.

The New Mexico Supreme Court has ruled that mandated child reporters must report suspected child abuse and neglect no matter the circumstances, the Associated Press' Vik Jolly said. The court rejected an intermediate appellate court ruling finding that social workers are privileged against having to report child abuse and neglect when they learn information during counseling sessions.

New Mexico Supreme Court Justice Edward Chavez kept his seat on the bench despite his ruling in 2013 clearing the way from same-sex marriage, The New Mexican's Phaedra Haywood reports: "Despite being singled out by the New Mexico Center for Family Policy, NM Watchman Jose Vasquez, For God’s Glory Alone Ministries and political blogger Politix Fireball — all of whom advised voters not to retain Chavez because he had co-authored the landmark decision — Chavez easily received the necessary 57 percent of the vote to keep him on the bench — as did all the statewide judicial officeholders."  In contrast, when the Iowa Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage five years ago, voters ousted three of the justices when they faced a retention election.

Eugene Volokh and Ilya Shapiro, writing in the Wall Street Journal, say that they support same-sex marriage but that a discrimination case against New Mexico photography business owners who don't want to photograph same-sex wedding and commitment ceremonies would make bad law. The New Mexico Human Rights Commission, in a decision upheld by the New Mexico Supreme Court, found that Elane Photography is subject to state's antidiscrimination law and must accommodate the public. "Creators of expression have a First Amendment right to choose which expression they want to create," they argue.

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether to take up the case later this month.

In a ruling today, the New Mexico Supreme Court has made that state the 17th in the state to allow same-sax marriage.  “'All rights, protections, and responsibilities that result from the marital relationship shall apply equally to both same-gender and opposite-gender married couples,"' the court said, according to the Albuquerque Journal.

The New Mexico Human Services Department is citing a law enforcement exception to that state's public records law as the reason it doesn't have to disclose an audit of 15 health-care providers; the audit was passed onto law enforcement, New Mexico In Depth reports. The lawyer for two New Mexico media outlets is arguing in court that this situation could set a "terrifying" precedent because it would "enable government officials to keep otherwise public documents from the public simply by passing them on to law enforcement agencies."

The New Mexico Supreme Court heard oral argument today on whether that state's laws would allow same-sex marriage, the Associated Press reports. New Mexico is the rare state that does not explicitly authorize or bar same-sex marriage.  While "the marriage laws — unchanged since 1961 — include a marriage license application with sections for male and female applicants" and references husbands-and-wives, at least one judge also has ruled denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples is unconstitutional, the AP also reports.

 The Albuquerque Journal reports the New Mexico Attorney General argues that same-sex marriage is an issue of civil rights to be decided by the courts, not to be put up as a ballot measure for voters. The New Mexico Supreme Court is going to hear the issue next month. New Mexico is the rare state that does not directly prohibit nor directly authorize same-sex marriages.

While some New Mexico county clerks are issuing same-sex marriage licenses, one county is not doing so after a local judge put a case on hold-pending a ruling on same-sex marriage by the New Mexico Supreme Court. New Mexico's laws are silent on whether same-sex marriages are prohibited or allowable. That state's Supreme Court is picking up the issue after "clerks from all of New Mexico’s 33 counties voted Aug. 28 to seek a ruling from the high court on the legality of same-sex marriage," the Rio Rancho Observer reports. 

After the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled that a wedding photographer's refusal to photograph same-sex weddings violates the state's Human Rights Act, the photographer is seeking certiorari in the US Supreme Court. SCOTUS Blog reports that the photography business argues that complying with the law forces them to violate their Christian beliefs and violates their constitutional right to the free exercise of religion. If the court takes up the issue it could set the parameters on how far protections for gay Americans will extend.