Federal appeals court postpones hearing in Nevada same-sex marriage case
CARSON CITY – The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals set oral arguments in Nevada’s same-sex marriage ban for April 9 in San Francisco but later postponed the case to some as yet unidentified future date.
The Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, which reported the scheduling change, is challenging the definition, placed in the state constitution by voters in 2002, on behalf of eight same-sex couples.
In November 2012 Judge Robert C. Jones upheld Nevada’s prohibition on same-sex marriage, finding that it does not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment.
The case is Sevcik v. Sandoval.
Gov. Brian Sandoval and Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto are no longer defending Nevada’s ban. The Coalition for the Protection of Marriage, the group that put the ban into the state constitution in a vote in 2002, is defending Nevada’s definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman.
Contact Capital Bureau reporter Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3900. Follow him on Twitter @seanw801.
