States that fought same-sex marriage owe millions in legal fees

[DonViejo]

Many states are now required to pay a ‘reasonable’ portion of fees for attorneys who represented same-sex couples

September 10, 2015 5:00AM ET

by Steve Friess @stevefriess

Two months after the U.S. Supreme Court ended the legal debate over same-sex marriage by declaring it a constitutionally protected civil right, attorneys general and governors who fought it are receiving unpleasant souvenirs of failure: Invoices from the attorneys who beat them.

States that defended same-sex marriage bans — most did, to some extent — are now being asked to pay the legal fees for those litigants under a 40-year-old federal law that says the court “in its discretion, may allow the prevailing party … a reasonable attorney’s fee as part of the costs.”

Or as Michigan attorney Dana Nessel put it: “It’s the price governments pay for defending bigotry.” Defeat won’t come cheap — or, in many cases, without further legal wrangling.

Michigan is weighing its response to a $1.9 million demand from attorneys for April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, plaintiffs in one of the four cases that went to the Supreme Court and was decided in June. In Kentucky, another state involved in the Supreme Court showdown, the bill for services rendered is $2.1 million. South Carolina has been ordered to pay $130,000, and Florida’s attorney general is fighting a tab of about $700,000.

Several states have struck agreements already. Pennsylvania settled for $1.5 million, Wisconsin for $1.05 million, Virginia for $580,000, Oregon for $132,000, Colorado for $90,000, Utah for $95,000 and North Dakota for $58,000. The varying prices reflect the length of the battles or their intensity.

more
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/9/10/states-that-fought-same-sex-marriage-charged-millions-in-attorney-fees.html

[MineralMan]

1. Justice can be costly for the unjust.

And rightly so.