Brett Turner, Senior Attorney, National Legal Research Group
All of the recent district court decisions requiring various states to recognize same-sex marriage have been appealed. This short update will set forth in one place the schedule of the various appeals.
The Utah case, Kitchen v. Herbert, 2:13-CV-217, 2013 WL 6697874 (D. Utah Dec. 20, 2013), will be heard on an expedited schedule. Oral argument is set for April 10.
The Oklahoma case, Bishop v. United States ex rel. Holder, No. 04-CV-848-TCK-TLW, 2014 WL 116013 (N.D. Okla. Jan. 14, 2014), has also been expedited. Oral argument is scheduled for April 17.
The Virginia case, Bostic v. Rainey, No. 2:13CV395, 2014 WL 561978 (E.D. Va. Feb. 13, 2014), has also been expedited. It will be heard between May 12 and May 15. See Harris v. Rainey, 5:13CV00077, 2014 WL 1292803 (W.D. Va. Mar. 31, 2014). Harris noted that the plaintiffs in another Virginia case have been granted leave to intervene in the appeal, and stayed the other case pending decision of the appeal.
The first post-Windsor decision was the Ohio case, Obergefell v. Kasich, No. 1:13BCVB501,
2013 WL 3814262 (S.D. Ohio July 22, 2013). The Sixth Circuit refused to expedite the appeal in that case. No reasons were stated, but one of the partners to the marriage in that case was terminally ill, and is now deceased. The initial brief on the appeal is due on April 10.
The Kentucky case, Bourke v. Beshear, No. 3:13-CV-750-H, 2014 WL 556729 (W.D. Ky. Feb. 12, 2014), will also be heard in the Sixth Circuit. One source suggests that the Sixth Circuit is unlikely to expedite the appeal. But the refusal to expedite in Obergefell may have been based upon the unusual postdeath nature of the appeal.
The Michigan case, DeBoer v. Snyder, 12-CV-10285, 2014 WL 1100794 (E.D. Mich. Mar. 21, 2014), will also be heard in the Sixth Circuit. A motion to expedite the appeal has been filed,
but not decided as of this writing. If the motion is denied, initial briefs would be due before the end of June.
In the Texas case, De Leon v. Perry, No. SA‑13‑CA‑00982‑OLG, 2014 WL 715741 (W.D. Tex. Feb. 26, 2014), there is no indication that a motion to expedite has been filed. Appellate briefs should be due in roughly 40 days, which would be mid-May.
The first appeals to be heard, therefore, will be those in the Utah and Oklahoma cases. There is no guarantee, of course, that the cases will be decided in the order heard. Obergefell, which has not been expedited, will definitely not be part of the first wave of decisions.
