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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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Judge dismisses gay marriage suit
Wednesday 12 January @ 20:52:21 |
 by Tim Campbell
On Jan. 3, U.S. District Judge Joan N. Ericksen dismissed a lawsuit filed by Jack Baker and Mike McConnell, who in Minneapolis 35 years ago applied for America’s first gay marriage license.
That lawsuit sought a refund of $793.28 in taxes paid by the couple to the IRS and a declaration that McConnell is a “lawfully married citizen … entitled to be treated the same as every other married Minnesotan similarly situated.”
Judge Ericksen’s opinion grants two facts that Baker and McConnell now
allege: first, that the federal court for Minnesota gave the couple permission
to amend an earlier suit to include IRS issues; second, that McConnell never
filed that amended lawsuit.
Nonetheless, Ericksen rules in this order that “… The Court addressed
the claims in the seconded (sic) amended complaint as if it had been filed.”
(Emphasis added.)
 Ericksen
reasons: “In federal court, an action is commenced by filing a complaint
with the court, Fed. R. Civ. P. 3, in contrast to Minnesota State Court, where
an action is commenced by service of a complaint, Minn. R. Civ. P. 301. Therefore,
the service of the second amended complaint on the IRS is irrelevant.”
Some think that within the federal chain of jurisdiction for this case, Judge
Ericksen was the official most likely to give Baker and McConnell a fair hearing.
She is a Minnesota native, went to law school here just after Baker was elected
student body president at the University of Minnesota. She is also a recent
divorcee and active with feminist lawyers in Minnesota. On the downside, she
also is a Republican who was made a federal judge just two years ago by President
Bush.
Unfortunately, as far as the most substantial issue in the case is concerned,
Ericksen ruled that her Magistrate’s opinion “as holding that Minnesota
does not recognize or permit same-sex marriage is fair.” (Emphasis added.)
The couple plans to pursue appeals all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court before
resting.
Baker and McConnell launched the worldwide drive for gay marriage in 1970 when
they applied for a marriage license in Minneapolis. A Hennepin County clerk
refused to issue them that license. The couple sued. The Minnesota Supreme Court
ruled that it was okay for that clerk to refuse Baker and McConnell a marriage
license because same-sex marriage was not specifically authorized by Minnesota
law.
In 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review that decision “for want
of substantial federal question.” That ruling could have meant the Supreme
Court thought the issue was either not substantial or not a federal one. Marriage
laws traditionally were left to the states until the question of interracial
marriage came up.
Meanwhile, but prior to the Minnesota Supreme Court decision about gay marriage,
Baker and McConnell went to Mankato, Minn., got a marriage license and were
married by a minister. The marriage was registered with the state.
Subsequently, using that marriage license, Baker and McConnell tried to get
veterans benefits. Again, the Minnesota Supreme Court slapped them down. However,
the same decision that denied Baker and McConnell veterans benefits left a foot
in the door for the couple to sue for income-tax benefits. The couple did not
file that lawsuit until recently, in May 2003. The current decision is the result
of the 2003 lawsuit. ||
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