Jessica Port and Virginia Anne Cowan married in California in 2008. Unfortunately, their relationship broke down and they made the difficult decision to end their marriage. They were residents of Maryland at that time, and sought a divorce in a Maryland court in 2010. Longstanding Maryland law provides that couples who validly married in another state are recognized as married in Maryland, even if the couple would not have been able to marry in Maryland. However, the trial court found that...
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gay marriage
On May 22, 2009, two same-sex couples filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, challenging California’s Proposition 8, which amended the California Constitution to prohibit marriage by same-sex couples. California’s Governor and Attorney General agreed with the plaintiffs that Proposition 8 was unconstitutional. Judge Vaughn Walker permitted Proposition 8’s supporters to intervene as defendants, and also permitted the City and County of...
In June 2002, seven same-sex couples filed suit alleging that New Jersey’s marriage law violated the New Jersey Constitution’s guarantees of equality and liberty. The trial court ruled for the State and the New Jersey Supreme Court agreed to hear a direct appeal from the trial court. In a unanimous ruling on October 25, 2006, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that denying same-sex couples the right to marry violates their right to equality under the New Jersey Constitution. The...
Shortly after AB 205‚ the California Domestic Partner Rights and Responsibilities Act of 2003‚ was signed into law, two right-wing groups filed lawsuits seeking to prevent the law from going into effect. On April 4, 2005, the Third Appellate District upheld the state’s domestic partnership law. This decision was reaffirmed in two related appeals on January 27, 2006 and again on March 16, 2006. On April 12, 2006, the California Supreme Court declined any further review of the decision....