Mitt is dancing . . . the SJC turned down gay marriage for nonresidents

[TaleWgnDg]

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court bars same-sex marriage for non-residents

Jeannie Shawl, Jurist News, at 10:17 AM ET, Thursday, March 30, 2006, edited on 12:22 PM ET

(JURIST NEWS) AP is reporting that the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (official website) ruled Thursday (March 30, 2006) that same-sex couples from outside of Massachusetts cannot marry in the state. Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage (JURIST news archive) with the state high court's 2003 decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health (text; JURIST report).

At issue in the current case (JURIST report) was whether a 1913 law (text), which prohibits out-of-state couples from marrying in Massachusetts if their home states do not recognize the union, comports with the Massachusetts constitution (text). Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has used the law, which had otherwise been rarely invoked, to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples from nearby states. AP has more.

10:44 AM ET - Read the court's decision (.pdf format, AdobeReader(R) required) in Cote-Whitacre v. Department of Public Health.

. . . more at . . . http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/03/breaking-news-massachusetts-high-court.php

(Massachusetts Supreme Judicial) Court: Gays Can't Come to Massachusetts to Marry

BOSTON - (AP) Same-sex couples from states where gay marriage is banned cannot legally marry in Massachusetts, the state's highest court ruled Thursday.

The Supreme Judicial Court, which three years ago made Massachusetts the first state to legalize gay marriage, upheld a 1913 state law that forbids nonresidents from marrying in Massachusetts if their marriage would not be recognized in their home state.

"The laws of this commonwealth have not endowed non-residents with an unfettered right to marry," the court wrote in its 38-page opinion. "Only non-resident couples who come to Massachusetts to marry and intend to reside in this commonwealth thereafter can be issued a marriage license without consideration of any impediments to marriage that existed in their former home states."

Eight gay couples from surrounding states had challenged the law in a case watched closely across the country.

In its ruling, the court sent the cases involving couples from Rhode Island and New York back to a lower court, saying it was unclear whether same-sex marriage is prohibited in those states.

Gov. Mitt Romney applauded the ruling.

. . . more at . . . http://yurl.com/hvtof

Please see: DU LBN thread at . . . http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2197741