Mountain West Marriages

/ December 20, 2013 in Law / Not a Potted Plant / Off the Cuff # # # # # # #

Yesterday, New Mexico’s Supreme Court formally confirmed same-sex marriage statewide. And today, a Federal court in Utah struck down that state’s ban on same-sex marriages, in a ruling which no longer raises eyebrows: the ban fails the rational basis test:

This will take a little while to work through appeals.

While the trend carries the scent of inevitability, we should bear in mind that Utah would be the eighteenth state to have same-sex marriage should today’s ruling ultimately stick, and the population count is not yet a majority of the country living in jurisdictions that have marriage equality. Political and legal winds do sometimes shift course.

So it’s important to celebrate each state’s laws moving forward, and today, couples in Utah and New Mexico have something very, very good to celebrate. Congratulations!

Please do be so kind as to share this post.
Share

Related posts

18 thoughts on “Mountain West Marriages”

  2. Hells yeah. What’s up with Utah? My wife and I were talking about the Greatest Places to Live on This Earth, and she said Colorado. And I agreed. With a caveat: Utah would be the best place except for their fushed up Laws.

    So this is great news to me.

    And since you’re here Burt: what do you think about the constitutionality of Utah’s prohibition on obtaining abortion coverage from private insurers?

    As a result, the American public along with many state legislators are now seeking a way to prohibit insurance coverage of most abortions in their states. Currently, eight states have laws, dating back as far as 1978, that prohibit private insurance plans operating within their states from covering most abortions. Four of these laws were enacted in 2011. All eight have an exception for when the mother’s life is at risk and one state permits coverage under more circumstances. Notably, every state but Utah explicitly permits abortion coverage through the purchase of an optional rider and payment of an additional premium.

      Quote  Link

    Report

    Reply
     
      • to Pierre Corneille

        I live in Longmont. A Proud Homeowner! It was the only place we could afford to buy that worked for us. Both my wife and I would love to live in Lyons, and our roots (Colorado) roots are in Boulder. (Which has become even more overbearing than it was, so I don’t miss it that much.)

        I grew up in Oak Park and as a kid took the train down to the city regularly. Later, we moved to Evanston, which is a realy great town. And when I moved out, I took an apartment on the near north side – where Clark, Broadway and Diversey meet – which was soooo much fun. My place was a block and a half from the lake; I was within walking distance to about 5 classic Blues joints; great food all over the place; used record and book stores galore. Wrigley was a five minute train ride away, the Loop was ten. We’d go to day-games and hit the Italian restaurant on the way back, and they’d bring out glasses of free red wine to all of us waiting outside for a table. It was really awesome. Man, what a great place.

          Quote  Link

        Report

        Reply
         
      • to Pierre Corneille

        I know that area you used to live at near Diversey and Clark and Broadway, although it’s probably changed a lot (more gentrified?…I don’t know) from when you lived there. I like it, but I’m such a homebody that we hardly go there.

        My wife and I have a nice Italian place we go to where they give us free wine. I’m not much of a wine drinker, but it’s a nice place.

        I’ve only been to Longmont a few times. But I went to Boulder for my MA and yes, it can be overbearing and is probably more so now than 13 years ago or so when I lived there. My nephew works (or at least used to) in Longmont.

          Quote  Link

        Report

        Reply
         

  3. Burt, assuming the Utah decision is appealed, what do you think happens? My bet would be it’s overturned by the Circuit and the Supreme Court doesn’t hear an appeal of that. I mean, it’s great and all, but it’s not like there’s any consensus or precedent that a state’s banning same-sex marriage is unconstitutional per se.

      Quote  Link

    Report

    Reply
     

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *