5th Circuit to courts in Texas: Allow gay marriage because Supreme Court says so

Source: AP

JACKSON, Miss. — A federal appeals court Wednesday instructed judges in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas to wrap up gay marriage cases in their states in line with last week’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

The order Wednesday from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals clears one of the final procedural roadblocks in the three cases, which had been pending before the New Orleans-based court. The 5th Circuit had heard arguments in the appeals but hadn’t ruled.

Circuit Judge Jerry Smith, writing for the three-judge panel that had heard arguments in the case, told federal district judges to issue final rulings by July 17 at the latest. The appeals court told U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans that he, in particular, needed to hurry because of the declining health of one of the Louisiana plaintiffs, Robert Welles. Feldman’s attorney, Scott Spivey, declined to comment.

Smith wrote in three separate opinions that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that marriage is a constitutional right equally held by all Americans “is the law of the land and, consequently, the law of this circuit, and should not be taken lightly by actors within jurisdiction of this court,” Smith wrote.

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