constitutional law

The Associated Press reports on an effort in Indiana to amend the state constitution to bar same-sex marriage, including blocking any future efforts to change the constitution to permit same-sex marriage. The AP reports: "The proposed amendment, if passed, would restrict marriage to being between a man and woman. But it would also further restrict the rights of same-sex couples and ban lawmakers from reconsidering the issue in the future. Those additional restrictions, which are in the second sentence of the proposed amendment, have drawn increasing concern from lawmakers."

Hawaii became the 15th state to authorize same-sex marriage with Governor Neil Abercrombie's signature on the legislation, the Los Angeles Times reports. When the bill was in the House, "deliberations lasted for several days and included a committee hearing in which 5,000 people signed up to testify for more than 50 hours, followed by hours of debate on the House floor on nearly 30 proposed amendments."

A court challenge to the same-sex marriage law is already pending. The argument is that legislatively authorizing same-sex nuptials violates a Hawaii constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage. However, Hawaii's attorney general concluded the constitutional amendment authorized legislators to ban same-sex matrimony, but that's a step they didn't take, The LA Times also reported.

The Detroit Free Press reports on Gov. Rick Snyder's historic testimony in a federal  court trial over whether Detroit qualifies for bankruptcy. Snyder testified that he "knew that he had the power to make Detroit’s bankruptcy filing contingent on protecting pensions — but he chose not to exercise it and impede efforts to fix the beleaguered city," the newspaper reports.

The Free Press also reports: "The Michigan Constitution protects public pensions as a 'contractual obligation' that cannot be 'diminished or impaired,' but federal bankruptcy law allows contracts to be severed."

Snyder is going to testify again today.

The national trend of litigation to challenge bans on same-sex marriage is continuing in the Lone Star State. Two couples in Texas have filed a federal lawsuit to challenge that state's ban on same-sex marriage, arguing the ban violates the federal constitution and the Texas state constitution, the San Antonio Express-News reports. “There is no rational basis, much less a compelling government purpose, for Texas to deny plaintiffs the same right to marry enjoyed by the majority of society,” the plaintiffs' complaint said, according to the newspaper.

The Washington Post reports that a defendant in a terrorism case has been informed by the U.S. Department of Justice that federal prosecutors want to use evidence generated from warrantless surveillance against him. The case is expect to generate a constitutional challenge. The case also could generated a U.S. Supreme Court test case. The Supreme Court rejected prior challenges to warrantless surveillance because the "lawyers, journalists and human rights organizations who brought the suit could not prove they had been caught up in the surveillance. As a result, they did not have legal standing to challenge the constitutionality," The Washington Post also reports.

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.

Two same-sex couples who wedded in other states have filed a lawsuit to challenge both Tennessee's constitutional provision and statute banning same-sex marriage, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The Journal also reports that Shannon Minter, the legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said "the lawsuit is the 19th filed since the [U.S. Supreme Court] Windsor ruling [striking the federal Defense of Marriage Act ] came down, and one of only a handful filed in the south."

Even though the Third Circuit has held that "secular, for-profit companies aren't afforded religious protection and the constitutional rights of their owners don't pass through to the corporate entity," a district-court federal judge sided with employers that are challenging Obamacare's contraceptive-coverage mandate on the grounds that it violates their freedom of religion, The Legal Intelligencer, Pennsylvania's legal newspaper, reported. The Legal also reported that U.S. District Chief Judge Joy Flowers Conti of the Western District of Pennsylvania denied a request from the Obama administration for an indicative ruling on the application of the Third Circuit case when Conti had granted an injunction for a plaintiff from the contraception mandate.

The issue is being primed for the U.S. Supreme Court. A circuit split is present on the issue between the Third Circuit and the Tenth Circuit.
 

Oregon's constitution bans same-sex marriage, but the Oregon Department of Justice has opined that same-sex marriages from other states must be recognized by Oregon governmental officials, The Portland Business Journal reports. The DOJ said that withholding benefits from same-sex spouses who legally wed out-of-state would violate equal protection principles and would be consistent with the policy of recognizing "valid out-of-state marriages that could not be performed in Oregon, including common-law unions," the publication also reports. Just like other states, lawsuits have been filed to challenge Oregon's ban on same-sex marriage.