Beth Kerrigan
| Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Court | Connecticut Supreme Court |
| Full case name | Elizabeth Kerrigan et al. v. Commissioner of Public Health et. al. |
| Argued | May 14, 2007 |
| Decided | October 28, 2008 |
| Citation(s) | 289 Conn. 135, 957 A.2d 407, (Conn 2007) |
| Holding | |
| Denying same-sex couples marriage licenses violated the equality and liberty provisions of the Connecticut Constitution. | |
| Court membership | |
| Chief Judge | Chase T. Rogers(recused) |
| Associate Judges | David M. Borden, Joette Katz, Flemming L. Norcott, Jr., Richard N. Palmer, Christine S. Vertefeuille, Peter T. Zarella, Lubbie Harper Jr.(assigned to participate) |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Palmer, joined by Harper, Katz, Norcott |
| Dissent | Borden |
| Dissent | Vertefeuille |
| Dissent | Zarella |
| Rogers took no part in the consideration or decision of the case. | |
| Laws applied | |
| Conn. Consti. Article first, § 1, § 8, § 10, § 20, General Statutes § 46b-38nn | |
Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health, 289 Conn. 135, 957 A.2d 407, is a 2008 decision by the Connecticut Supreme Court holding that allowing same-sex couples to form same-sex unions but not marriages violates the Connecticut Constitution. It was the third time that a ruling by the highest court of a U.S. state legalized same-sex marriage, following Massachusetts in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health (2003) and California in In re Marriage Cases (2008). This case legalized same-sex marriage in Connecticut.
Connecticut had a relatively liberal record on the question of rights for gays and lesbians. It had repealed its law criminalizing consensual sodomy in 1969, banned discrimination based on sexual orientation in 1991, and authorized second-parent adoptions in 2000.
In response to an inquiry from officials of two Connecticut towns asking whether they could issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal wrote on May 17, 2004, the day that same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts:
I have concluded that the Connecticut Legislature has not authorized the issuance of a Connecticut marriage license to a same-sex couple.... I can reach no conclusion on whether a Connecticut court would hold that limiting the status of marriage to opposite-sex couples violates constitutional standards. Ultimately, the courts will have the final say.... [O]ur marriage statutes enjoy a presumption of constitutionality.
On August 25, 2004, Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) filed a lawsuit, lead by attorney Bennett Klein, on behalf of seven (later eight) Connecticut same-sex couples in State Superior Court, challenging the state's denial of the right to marry to same-sex couples. All had been denied marriage licenses in Madison and several were raising children. They argued that this violated the equality and liberty provisions of the Connecticut Constitution. Attorney General Blumenthal said: "The question is whether there's a denial of equal protection of the law. My job is to defend the statutes whether I like them or not, and we do that as vigorously and as zealously as we can." The Family Institute of Connecticut asked to be allowed to intervene to defend the suit, but Judge Patty Jenkins Pittman denied that request and her decision was upheld on appeal.
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Wikipedia