Van Hollen: Clerks issuing licenses to gay couples could be charged
Source: Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
Madison Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said Thursday that same-sex couples who have wed in recent days are not married in the eyes of the law and that county clerks issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples could be prosecuted.
"You do have many people in Wisconsin basically taking the law into their own hands and there can be legal repercussions for that," Van Hollen said. "So, depending on who believes they're married under the law and who doesn't believe they're married under the law may cause them to get themselves in some legal problems that I think are going to take years for them and the courts to work out."
He said he did not believe same-sex couples could be prosecuted but that county clerks risked that happening.
"That's going to be up to district attorneys, not me," he said. "There are penalties within our marriage code, within our statutes, and hopefully they're acting with full awareness of what's contained therein."
-snip-
Read more: http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/van-hollen-clerks-issuing-licenses-to-gay-couples-could-be-charged-b99289932z1-262892731.html
hlthe2b
(101,714 posts)Mr.Bill
(24,103 posts)Raphael Campos
(46 posts)Orrex
(63,084 posts)1Greensix
(111 posts)I was born and raised in Wisconsin so I do know something about the state, even though I haven't lived there for nearly 50 years. It used to be a wonderfully friendly and openly progressive state. People got along with each other and cities like Madison looked like parks with houses dropped in. No fences, and clean yards.
Today, I wouldn't live there on a bet. Republican conservatives are destroying HOPE for the average person. Their governor is one of the biggest assholes in the whole country, and overshadows their other big asshole, Senator Paul Ryan. Conservatives there are hoping for a Civil War so they can use all the guns and ammo they've been hoarding. Their militias are nuttier than their Tea Party members, but racism is still at the heart of their insanity.
It Used to be a great place to live. But, that was fifty years ago.
closeupready
(29,503 posts)to turn GOP when I left. Things went downhill from there, and I'd not even consider going back.
AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)Hey.... you get what you voted for....
SERIOUSLY.... doncha hate that stupid meme? No, we who vote against stupid Teabaggers DON'T get what we voted for, and sometimes the voting ain't so upfront and true. I'm from North Popelina (formally North Carolina) and even the dumbass Teabaggers aren't getting "what they voted for" after being bombarded with millions of dollars of lies and twisted ads.
NC used to be a much better (not perfect by any sans tho') state too.
PatrynXX
(5,668 posts)I left for Iowa for whatever reason. MN and WI I like IL I like was never big on IA. too political. now towns along the border with MN, IA or IL not too bad but further you go east the colder it gets. (ahem colder as in no souls there. )
CatholicEdHead
(9,740 posts)And in a real cold way to toe the line or else. Even as conservative as North and South Dakota are, it is different than Wisconsin now, Wisconsin's form is outright mean and spiteful. I could feel the racial tension in the Milwaukee suburbs that was worse than I saw down south (LA, MS, AL).
riversedge
(69,713 posts)TxVietVet
(1,905 posts)He first ran on a platform on how he was going to take Jim Doyle's "corrupt" administration and send them all to jail. He convicted one person from Doyle's term and it got thrown out of the court on appeal and the judge who presided over the appeal boxed Van Hollen's ears pretty good calling him a very incompetent lawyer.
Wisconsin changed as bad as Texas did. I left Texas working construction and didn't recognize how bad Texas changed until I returned after 22 years gone.
TxVietVet
(1,905 posts)I left in 2010, right after Wanker was elected.
Conservanazi hate radio blasts the constant lies and conservative propaganda 24/7 by some of the biggest idiots in Wisconsin.
My co-workers would spew out the same propaganda all day, chapter and verse.
Many, many white folks in Wisconsin are now very racists. Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha had big ghettoes when I left. They just keep alienating people against minorities.
In my twenty years there working union construction, the Milwaukee area went from very pro-union to very pro-conservanazi.
Many of my former co-workers are nothing more than conservanut tools.
hue
(4,949 posts)blackspade
(10,056 posts)Raphael Campos
(46 posts)shenmue
(38,501 posts)Grrr.
Can't they just let people live? What is this, the Salem Witch Trials again?
PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)DallasNE
(7,392 posts)And the courts have cleared same sex marriages to start. Here the AG seems to be saying that while the law has been struck down the penalties within the law are still in effect. Hopefully the next step will be a cease and desist order against the AG.
silvershadow
(10,336 posts)24601
(3,940 posts)of his words.
http://thehill.com/regulation/administration/202932-holder-claims-vast-amount-of-discretion-in-enforcing-law
There is a vast amount of discretion that a president has and, more specifically, that an attorney general has, Holder responded. But that discretion has to be used in an appropriate way so that your acting consistent with the aims of the statute but at the same time making sure that you are acting in a way that is consistent with our values, consistent with the Constitution and protecting the American people.
Substitute any governor for the President and any state AG for AG Holder.
melm00se
(4,973 posts)Mz Pip
(27,403 posts)More fear mongering from the right. I am so sick of these self righteous twits.
Swede Atlanta
(3,596 posts)When a federal judge issues a ruling that a state law is unconstitutional and does not issue a stay, a state and it's employees must comply with the judge's decision. The state can appeal and even ask for an emergency stay but that does not invalidate the judge's ruling.
This AG must have done law school by correspondence maybe with the University of Uzbekibeikstan or something but any law student who has understood anything during time in school will know these basic facts.
If your anti-gay marriage statute is invalidated then any law that provides for prosecutions for marrying someone who is gay is also invalidated. Period, end of sentence. There is no gray area here.
Moonwalk
(2,322 posts)He's clearly trying to scare the clerks into stopping, knowing that's the only way to put the breaks on this. It has all the desperation of a two-year old throwing a temper tantrum.
warrant46
(2,205 posts)The homophobic catlick church in Wisconsin who gave millions of $$$ to pass the abominable voter sponsored amendment in the first place.
hue
(4,949 posts)cynzke
(1,254 posts)that is why he throws out the caveat that the DA's should prosecute clerks. Van Hollen knows full well that the DA's won't actually do that.
azurnoir
(45,850 posts)resort to intimidation, it's the Republican way
riversedge
(69,713 posts)This will not end well at all.
riversedge
(69,713 posts)to go ahead and process the clerk's marriage certificates. they had been on hold for some reason.Today he threatens them The man is out of control and schizophrenic. Where is @GovWalker??
riversedge
(69,713 posts)So Van H. passes the buck to county DA's!! who will be targeted??
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/262901321.html
Nearly all Wisconsin counties allowing marriage licenses for same-sex couples
By Sharif Durhams of the Journal Sentinel
June 12, 2014 12:05 p.m.
A number of media outlets, including the Journal Sentinel, have been calling county clerks throughout the state to see which are allowing same-sex couples to get marriage licenses.
In the latest count, the Wisconsin State Journal reports that as of midday Thursday clerks in 60 of Wisconsin's 72 counties are issuing such licenses. The Associated Press, meanwhile, reports that all but nine of the counties are issuing the licenses.
The AP tally also notes that at least 573 licenses have been issued to gay couples so far.
Raphael Campos
(46 posts)LiberalFighter
(50,491 posts)It speaks volumes as to the extent it is in Wisconsin. It is not an isolated situation which many possibly thought.
William769
(55,124 posts)KamaAina
(78,249 posts)with malfeasance, or if a court order has been issued, with contempt.
riversedge
(69,713 posts)The crazies are on the loose over this issue in Wisconsin!
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2014/06/resident-says-he-will-file-lawsuit-to-stop-milwaukee-county-same-sex-weddings/#.U5obWOuf9L0.twitter
Local resident to file lawsuit to stop Milwaukee County same-se
Thursday, June 12, 2014
16 Comments
MILWAUKEE A Wisconsin man says the the legal process is moving too slowly so hes filing a lawsuit to stop same-sex weddings in Milwaukee County, claiming that his civil rights are being violated because gay couples are marrying.
Bob Braun
Bob Braun
WISN-TV reports that Bob Braun of West Allis, Wis., told a same-sex couple who were obtaining their marriage license at the Milwaukee County Clerks office on Tuesday, that he was there to obtain the necessary paperwork to sue the county clerk and the county executive for issuing same-sex marriage licenses.
Were filing a lawsuit against the people who are allowing you and telling them to stop doing it, Braun told Kari George and Joan Fecteau, who had brought their daughter and friends to witness their wedding.
Braun doesnt want to wait for the federal courts to rule, and says hell file his lawsuit Thursday asking a Milwaukee County judge to stop the weddings.x weddings
Louisiana1976
(3,962 posts)That man is certifiably nuts.
riversedge
(69,713 posts)Swede Atlanta
(3,596 posts)Not only are you a bigot but a stupid one at that.
A U.S. District Court Judge has issued a ruling that the Wisconsin state's ban on same-gender marriage is unconstitutional - i.e. it is not consistent with the U.S. Constitution.
No state judge or court, even the state supreme court, has the authority to stop weddings or overturn the District Court judge's ruling. It is now out of the state's hands from that perspective.
The state may appeal the decision to the appropriate Circuit Court even asking for an emergency stay. If the appeal is declined or the emergency stay not granted the state may appeal to the SCOTUS.
But nothing a state court does now, even the state Supreme Court, can affect the ruling of the U.S. District Court judge now.
Bartlet
(172 posts)You don't just get to file a laws suit because you don't like something, you have to demonstrate some harm. There is no harm this dimwit has suffered except to his infantile fragile right wing turd ego. This dolt can pretend to file all he want's, it will go exactly no where.
Gothmog
(143,999 posts)These comments are simply wrong and inappropriate even for this idiot
24601
(3,940 posts)Crabb completes her action and issues an injunction, the actual order to do or not do something, the AG will appeal and request a stay of the injunction pending that appeal. If she denies the appeal, he will request the circuit court to stay her injunction pending that appeal.
Ultimately all these cases will reach the SCOTUS which has yet to rule if defining marriage is a state power or not. If they rule that it is, and all the previous state laws and constitutional provisions are reinstates, then there is the question of the status of any marriage conducted in the interim.
This has the potential to be a very messy case - that SCOTUS could have avoided with a definitive ruling in the Prop 9 case rather than a narrow ruling on standing.
On the other hand, it will be a trial lawyers bonanza.
Rhiannon12866
(202,970 posts)Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)question everything
(47,264 posts)mackerel
(4,412 posts)all I heard was blah blah blah blah blah
Half-Century Man
(5,279 posts)I thought if a law was found to be unconstitutional, it invalidated the law for the entirety of it's existence. It was never a valid law to begin with, so it is now officially recognized as a waste of paper and time. The law never had legally enforceable power, despite actions of any executive branch of government in the past.
Evidentially Van Hollen went to the same law school the Circuit Court Judge who ordered the destruction of evidence in Wisconsin, Mt Moneymaster School of Law, in Draconiania Wi.
Proud Liberal Dem
(24,355 posts)Sad and disgusting.
hue
(4,949 posts)olddad56
(5,732 posts)What ever happen to a persons right to the pursuit of happiness. Everyone has the right to marry the person the love. It doesn't interfere with anyone else's right to the pursuit of happiness. It might conflict with someone's bigoted and archaic religious beliefs, but those beliefs are personal and have nothing to do with how another person chooses to spend their life with.
Lefta Dissenter
(6,617 posts)Judge Crabb has put a stay on the marriages. Just what was expected, but disappointing, nonetheless.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2014/0613/Same-sex-marriage-After-550-Wisconsin-couples-wed-US-judge-stays-her-ruling-video
greymattermom
(5,751 posts)If it's same sex, a chromosome test should be required before a marriage license is issued. Please pass this on to all of your tea party friends. They need to take up this cause if they're serious about this.