Gay-Marriage Bans Fall In Wisconsin and Indiana
THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Erick Eckholm
INDIANA---Only nine days after hearing arguments in the case, a federal appeals court in Chicago declared the bans on same-sex marriage in Indiana and Wisconsin to be unconstitutional on Thursday, adding to the list of marriage cases that could wind up before the Supreme Court in the year ahead. “The grounds advanced by Indiana and Wisconsin for their discriminatory policies are not only conjectural; they are totally implausible,” said the unanimous opinion by a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, as it confirmed lower-court decisions that reversed marriage restrictions in the two states. “We’ll see that the governments of Indiana and Wisconsin have given us no reason to think they have a ‘reasonable basis’ for forbidding same-sex marriage,” Judge Posner wrote near the opening of the 40-page opinion. The argument that allowing same-sex marriage will somehow undermine the protection of children in heterosexual marriages, the court said, “is so full of holes that it cannot be taken seriously.” [link]
By Erick Eckholm
INDIANA---Only nine days after hearing arguments in the case, a federal appeals court in Chicago declared the bans on same-sex marriage in Indiana and Wisconsin to be unconstitutional on Thursday, adding to the list of marriage cases that could wind up before the Supreme Court in the year ahead. “The grounds advanced by Indiana and Wisconsin for their discriminatory policies are not only conjectural; they are totally implausible,” said the unanimous opinion by a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, as it confirmed lower-court decisions that reversed marriage restrictions in the two states. “We’ll see that the governments of Indiana and Wisconsin have given us no reason to think they have a ‘reasonable basis’ for forbidding same-sex marriage,” Judge Posner wrote near the opening of the 40-page opinion. The argument that allowing same-sex marriage will somehow undermine the protection of children in heterosexual marriages, the court said, “is so full of holes that it cannot be taken seriously.” [link]