On Wednesday, November 12, U.S. District Judge Richard Mark Gergel ruled that South Carolina’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. Judge Gergel placed a stay on his decision until November 20, and the South Carolina Attorney General has appealed the ruling to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. Hopefully couples will be able to marry beginning on November 20 in South Carolina.
Here are 3 times Judge Gergel’s ruling ordering same-sex marriage in South Carolina nailed it:
1. When he called out the state’s argument that the 4th Circuit ruling wasn’t binding in this case.
“While this debate over precedent and constitutional principle is interesting, this Court finds most persuasive the clearly stated authority of the Fourth Circuit’s seminal decision in Bostic. It is axiomatic that a decision of a circuit court, not overruled by the United States Supreme Court, is controlling precedent for the district courts within the circuit.”
2. When he established his authority to uphold constitutional rights.
“While a party is certainly free to argue against precedent, even very recent precedent, the Fourth Circuit has exhaustively addressed the issues raised by Defendants and firmly and unambiguously recognized a fundamental right of same sex couples to marry and the power of the federal courts to address and vindicate that right.”
3. When he told the state to appeal the case if they wanted it to be tried all over again.
“The Court finds that Bostic controls the disposition of the issues before this Court and establishes, without question, the right of Plaintiffs to marry as same sex partners. The arguments of Defendant Wilson simply attempt to relitigate matters already addressed and resolved in Bostic. Any effort by Defendant Wilson or others to overrule Bostic should be addressed to the Fourth Circuit and/or the United States Supreme Court.”
Below is background on why South Carolina courts are required to rule in favor of equality:
On July 28, 2014 in Bostic v. Schafer, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriage violated the fundamental rights of LGBT people in that state. When the ruling finally went into effect on October 6, it was understood that the ruling would be “controlling precedent” for other marriage equality cases in the circuit – meaning that the Carolinas as well as West Virginia would have marriage equality soon afterward.
West Virginia began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on October 9, without waiting for a court mandate. North Carolina continued to pursue two of its federal marriage equality lawsuits in court, and eventually got orders in both cases favoring equality. North Carolina marriages officially began on October 10 after U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn, Jr. ruled in General Synod of the UCC v. Reisinger. South Carolina, despite having a few marriage equality cases pending, had not resolved the issue until the November 12 ruling–five and a half weeks after Bostic went into effect.
Defendants in the South Carolina cases tried everything they could to delay marriage equality. In Condon v. Wilson–the case that eventually won equality in the state–Attorney General Alan Wilson first tried to get the case tossed out on a technicality, arguing that Governor Nikki Haley should not have been named as a defendant. He also argued that the 4th Circuit precedent was not binding because of a one-sentence 1972 Supreme Court dismissal of a marriage equality case, Baker v. Nelson. Further, he argued that Judge Gergel should take into consideration a recent 6th Circuit decision upheld same-sex marriage bans in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee.
It was clear from the order that Judge Gergel wasn’t buying these arguments, and he shot each one down in his decision.
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