Louisiana judge rules one same-sec marriage legal

A Lafayette judge has ruled that the California marriage of two women must be legally recognized in Louisiana.

State officials say they will appeal the ruling by State District Court Judge Edward Rubin, which says Louisiana’s law that bars recognition of same-sex marriages violates the federal and state constitutions.

Rubin’s decision is not binding on any other court or jurisdiction. He is a judge in Louisiana’s 15th Judicial District. As of Monday night no record was available to show that a stay had been issued or applied for.

The decision would only become law statewide if not challenged within 30 days, an unlikely proposition, legal experts agree.

Lawyers familiar with the case said that no matter which way Louisiana’s 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal eventually decides, there is no doubt an appeal would then ensue, potentially to the US Supreme Court.

Earlier this month US District Judge Martin Feldman made a ruling directly opposed to the state court’s finding, in New Orleans federal court. The case before Feldman included a Raceland couple, Nadine and Courtney Blanchard, and a New Orleans couple, Jon and Derek Penton-Robicheaux. Jon Penton –Robicheaux is originally from Houma.

Both the Penton-Robicheauxs and the Blanchards were married in Iowa and their marriages are not recognized in Louisiana.

Another New Orleans couple, Robert Welles and Garth Beauregard, sued in federal court under a different pretext, after being denied a marriage license in Orleans Parish.

Those three cases are now bound for the 5th Circuit US Court of Appeals. The US Supreme Court will announce what cases it is taking next month for their upcoming session; So far the 4th Circuit, covering Maryland , North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia, has affirmed marriage equality; the 10th Circuit has done so for Utah and Oklahoma; as has the the 7th Circuit sitting in Illinois.

If the 5th Circuit rules in a contrary manner the Supreme Court would be more likely to take the matter up sooner, according to legal experts.

Feldman’s ruling says that the states have the sole ability to define marriage. Opponents of equality for same-sex couples have argued – in the case of Feldman’s court successfully – that forcing a state to recognize same-sex couples would be akin to forcing them to recognize marriages between cousins or to a 13-year-old.

The ruling in Lafayette notes that Louisiana already recognizes marriages from states that do not have its requirements that make a couple valid to wed.

“I think the state court got it right,” said Scott Spivey, a New Orleans attorney who represents Welles and Beauregard, and is preparing his 5th Circuit appeal. He communicated the content of the ruling to his clients.

“They know about it and they are happy,” he said.

State District Court Judge Edward Rubin ruled the state’s law that bars recognition of same-sex marriages violates the federal and state constitutions.