''Tanco v. Haslam'' was the lead case in the dispute of

same-sex marriage in Tennessee Same-sex marriage in Tennessee has been legal since the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in ''Obergefell v. Hodges'' on June 26, 2015. Governor Bill Haslam quickly announced that the state would abide by the court's decision, and same-sex couples began ...

. A

U.S. District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

granted a preliminary injunction requiring the state to recognize the marriages of the plaintiffs, three same-sex couples. The court found the

equal protection The Equal Protection Clause is part of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides "''nor shall any State ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equa ...

analysis used in ''

Bourke v. Beshear The lead cases on same-sex marriage in Kentucky are ''Bourke v. Beshear'', and its companion case ''Love v. Beshear''. In ''Bourke'', a U.S. district court found that the Equal Protection Clause requires Kentucky to recognize valid same-sex marri ...

'', a case dealing with a comparable Kentucky statute "especially persuasive." On April 25, 2014, that injunction was stayed by the

Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (in case citations, 6th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * Eastern District of Kentucky * Western District of K ...

. ''Tanco'' was appealed to the Sixth Circuit, which reversed the district court and upheld Tennessee's refusal to recognize same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions on November 6. On January 16, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court consolidated this case with three others and agreed to review the case. Oral arguments were heard on April 28, 2015.

District court proceedings

On October 21, 2013, local attorneys supported by the

National Center for Lesbian Rights The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) is a non-profit, public interest law firm in the United States that advocates for equitable public policies affecting the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, provides free legal ...

filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee on behalf of four Tennessee same-sex couples seeking to require Tennessee to recognize their marriages. They argued that the state's policy constitutes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and violates their rights to due process and equal protection, as well as their right to travel. The suit named as defendants Governor

Bill Haslam William Edward Haslam (; born August 23, 1958) is an American billionaire businessman and politician who served as the 49th governor of Tennessee from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, Haslam previously served as the 67th mayor of ...

and 3 other state officials. One of the couples married in New York left the case and the number of defendants was reduced by one.

Preliminary injunction granted

On March 14, 2014, U.S. District Judge

Aleta Trauger Aleta Arthur Trauger (born December 9, 1945) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. Education and career Born in Denver, Colorado, Trauger received a Bachelor of Arts degree fr ...

granted a preliminary injunction requiring the state to recognize the marriages of the three plaintiff couples. She wrote: "At this point, all signs indicate that, in the eyes of the United States Constitution, the plaintiffs' marriages will be placed on an equal footing with those of heterosexual couples and that proscriptions against same-sex marriage will soon become a footnote in the annals of American history."

Stay denied

The state immediately filed a motion to stay this ruling, but on March 20, Judge Trauger denied the request, reasoning that unlike the stay ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court in ''Kitchen v. Herbert'' "the court's order does not open the floodgates for same-sex couples to marry in Tennessee ... ndapplies only to the three same-sex couples at issue in this case." The Tennessee Attorney General filed an

interlocutory appeal An interlocutory appeal (or interim appeal), in the law of civil procedure in the United States, occurs when a ruling by a trial court is appealed while other aspects of the case are still proceeding. Interlocutory appeals are allowed only under sp ...

in the

, asking the circuit court to stay the injunction that forces the state to recognize plaintiffs' marriages. The attorney general cited the stay granted by the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

in January in another same-sex marriage case, ''

Kitchen v. Herbert ''Kitchen v. Herbert'', 961 F.Supp.2d 1181 (D. Utah 2013), ''affirmed'', 755 F.3d 1193 (10th Cir. 2014); ''stay granted'', 134 S.Ct. 893 (2014); ''petition for certiorari denied'', No. 14-124, 2014 WL 3841263 (Oct. 6, 2014), is the federal cas ...

''.

Court of Appeals proceedings

On April 25, 2014, the Sixth Circuit, in an unpublished ''

per curiam In law, a ''per curiam'' decision (or opinion) is a ruling issued by an appellate court of multiple judges in which the decision rendered is made by the court (or at least, a majority of the court) acting collectively (and typically, though not ...

'' order, issued a stay of the district court's decision in ''Tanco,'' and ordered that the case be assigned to a panel of judges on the Sixth Circuit for expedited consideration on the merits. The effect of this order is to stay the preliminary injunction awarded to plaintiffs by the district court, meaning that the state of Tennessee will no longer have to recognize the legally consummated same-sex marriages of the six named plaintiffs in the ''Tanco'' case until after the appeal is decided. The Sixth Circuit said that its decision to stay the order is based on the "unsettled" nature of the law, as well as the public interest and the interests of the parties. The Sixth Circuit heard oral arguments on August 6. On November 6, the Sixth Circuit ruled 2–1 that Tennessee's ban on same-sex marriage does not violate the constitution. It said it was bound by the U.S. Supreme Court's 1972 action in a similar case, ''

Baker v. Nelson ''Richard John Baker v. Gerald R. Nelson'', 291 Minn. 310, 191 N.W.2d 185 (1971), was a case in which the Minnesota Supreme Court decided that construing a marriage statute to restrict marriage licenses to persons of the opposite sex "does not ...

'', which dismissed a same-sex couple's marriage claim "for want of a substantial federal question." Writing for the majority, Judge

Jeffrey Sutton Jeffrey Stuart Sutton (born October 31, 1960) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as the chief circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Early life and career Sutton received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history fr ...

also dismissed the arguments made on behalf of same-sex couples in this case: "Not one of the plaintiffs' theories, however, makes the case for constitutionalizing the definition of marriage and for removing the issue from the place it has been since the founding: in the hands of state voters." Dissenting, Judge

Martha Craig Daughtrey Martha Craig "Cissy"
Kathryn Reed Edge, Tennessee

Supreme Court proceedings

On November 14, the same-sex couples filed an application for

certiorari In law, ''certiorari'' is a court process to seek judicial review of a decision of a lower court or government agency. ''Certiorari'' comes from the name of an English prerogative writ, issued by a superior court to direct that the record of ...

with the U.S. Supreme Court. They asked the court to consider whether the U.S. Constitution protects a "fundamental right to marry", whether Tennessee's refusal to recognize same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions unlawfully restricts their right to travel, and whether the Supreme Court's dismissal of ''

'' (1972) is binding precedent in this case. Tennessee officials filed a brief in opposition to the plaintiffs' petition on December 15. On January 16, 2015, the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

consolidated this case with three others and agreed to review the case. It set a briefing schedule to be completed April 17. The court asked the parties to address two questions: "1) Does the Fourteenth Amendment require a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex? 2) Does the Fourteenth Amendment require a state to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out-of-state?" The plaintiff-petitioners told the court that Douglas Hallward-Driemeier of the law firm of

Ropes & Gray Ropes & Gray LLP is a global law firm with 13 offices located in the United States, Asia and Europe. The firm has more than 1,500 lawyers and professionals worldwide, and its clients include corporations and financial institutions, government agen ...

would represent them at oral argument. On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the case, which had been consolidated with three other cases from Michigan, Ohio, and Kentucky, in ''

Obergefell v. Hodges ''Obergefell v. Hodges'', ( ), is a landmark LGBT rights case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection ...

''. In a 5–4 decision written by Justice

Kennedy Kennedy may refer to: People * John F. Kennedy (1917–1963), 35th president of the United States * John Kennedy (Louisiana politician), (born 1951), US Senator from Louisiana * Kennedy (surname), a family name (including a list of persons with t ...

and joined by Justices Ginsburg, Breyer,

Sotomayor Sotomayor is a Galician language, Galician surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Sonia Sotomayor, U.S. Supreme Court justice In arts and entertainment * Carlos Sotomayor (1911–1988), Chilean painter * Chris Sotomayor, artist who wo ...

, and Kagan, the Supreme Court held that state bans on same-sex marriage are a violation of the

Due Process Due process of law is application by state of all legal rules and principles pertaining to the case so all legal rights that are owed to the person are respected. Due process balances the power of law of the land and protects the individual pers ...

and

Equal Protection The Equal Protection Clause is part of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides "''nor shall any State ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equa ...

Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/14-556_3204.pdf This ruling extended the right to same-sex marriage to the entire United States and required that states recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other states. The ruling continued Justice Anthony Kennedy's legacy as a top jurist for gay rights in America, having now written four high court opinion favoring gays and lesbians; June 26, 2015 was the 2-year anniversary of the decision in ''

United States v. Windsor ''United States v. Windsor'', 570 U.S. 744 (2013), is a landmark United States Supreme Court civil rights case concerning same-sex marriage. The Court held that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which denied federal recognition o ...

'', which overturned part of the federal

Defense of Marriage Act The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was a United States federal law passed by the 104th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. It banned federal recognition of same-sex marriage by limiting the definition of marr ...

, and the 12th anniversary of the decision in ''

Lawrence v. Texas ''Lawrence v. Texas'', 539 U.S. 558 (2003), is a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that most sanctions of criminal punishment for consensual, adult non- procreative sexual activity (commonly referred to as so ...

'', which overturned anti-sodomy laws in the United States. Kennedy issued his first major gay rights decision in 1996 in ''

Romer v. Evans ''Romer v. Evans'', 517 U.S. 620 (1996), is a landmark United States Supreme Court case dealing with sexual orientation and state laws.. It was the first Supreme Court case to address gay rights since ''Bowers v. Hardwick'' (1986),. when the C ...

''.

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

''Tanco v. Haslam'', No. 14-562: U.S. Supreme Court official Docket entry

Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, ''Tanco v. Haslam'', November 6, 2014
Tennessee law United States same-sex union case law 2014 in United States case law 2014 in Tennessee United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Roberts Court Marriage in Tennessee