Judge Nixes Texas AG's Effort to Intervene in Same-Sex Divorce Case
A Texas judge has nixed the state attorney general’s petition to intervene in a same-sex divorce case, finding that another case already on appeal is positioned to address the legal issues raised by Attorney General Greg Abbott.
Plus, delaying the divorce already granted to Angelique Naylor, 39, and Sabina Daly, 42, could have an adverse effect on their 4-year-old son, said Travis County District Judge Scott Jenkins during a hearing yesterday. The two women were legally married in 2004 in Massachusetts; under Texas law, marriage must be between a man and a woman, reports the Austin American-Statesman.
In the other same-sex divorce case mentioned by Jenkins, Dallas County State District Judge Tena Callahan denied Abbott’s motion to intervene in the marriage dissolution sought by two men who married out-of-state and invoked the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution in finding that same-sex couples have the right to marry.
Argument is scheduled next month in the Texas 5th District Court of Appeals in Dallas, but the case is expected to proceed at least to the Texas Supreme Court before it is resolved.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Texas AG Tries to Intervene—1 Day Too Late?—in Same-Sex Divorce Case”
Dallas Morning News: “Judge calls Texas’ gay-marriage ban into question”
