The Northwestern Law Review Colloquy is running an interesting-so-far series on United States v. Windsor. The first two parts of the series are up, and both discuss post-DOMA choice of law issues. First is DOMA’s Ghost, an essay by Brad Greenberg on copyright reversionary interests. The Copyright Act is one of the few federal statutes […]
Archive | Civil Unions
Could The New Jersey Civil Unions Case Go to the Supreme Court?
Michael Dorf has an interesting and careful post where he analyzes whether last Friday’s decision in Garden State Equality v. Dow (the New Jersey civil unions case discussed here) raises a question of federal law reviewable by the Supreme Court. While the opinion is ambiguous with respect to the key question, he concludes that the […]
Understanding Today’s Ruling About New Jersey Civil Unions
A New Jersey trial court just invalidated New Jersey’s current civil union regime, holding that the state is required to let same-sex couples marry, not just get civil unions. I’ve blogged about this issue before, but let me quickly summarize the situation: Both sides of the litigation agree that same-sex couples are entitled to access […]
Murder Prosecution Raises Multiple Same-Sex Marriage Recognition Questions
A current murder prosecution in Kentucky happens to simultaneously raise two different same-sex-marriage recognition problems that I’ve previously blogged about. In Kentucky, as in many states, spouses don’t have to testify against one another about things they said while married. Ms. Bobby Jo Clary is on trial for murder, and the state wants her partner, […]
Second Thoughts on Civil Unions and Federal Law
Last week, I had a post that was skeptical of the claim that current law requires the federal government to recognize state civil unions as marriages. Reading through this brief recently filed by the state of New Jersey, I am no longer so sure. (The brief is a defense of New Jersey’s civil union law […]
R.I. Legislature Passes Civil Unions Bill
And manages to do what nobody else has done: unite supporters and opponents of same-sex marriage. Marriage Equality Rhode Island says it establishes “second-class citizenry.” The National Organization for Marriage says it is “disappointing and dangerous.” Caught in the middle were legislators, including the openly gay head of the state house, and Governor Lincoln Chafee […]
Civil Unions Begin in Illinois
By Dale Carpenter on June 1, 2011 1:57 pm in Civil Unions, Gay Marriage, Same-Sex Marriage, Uncategorized
They’re not quite registering June brides, but the joyous end of American civilization has legislatively spread to Cook County and the rest of the Land of Lincoln. Starting today, the state is granting all of the rights and privileges of marriage under state law to same-sex couples. With all the recent excitement in Minnesota over the effort to […]