NM COUNTY CLERK HEADING TO COURT: From 365Gay.com

(Albuquerque, New Mexico)--Sandoval County clerk Victoria Dunlap is not backing down in her quest to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Dunlap is going to court to get a judge to lift the restraining order that prevents her from issuing the licenses.

New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid got the injunction after Dunlap said last Tuesday she would again begin issuing licenses to same-sex couples. Shortly before her office was scheduled to open she was forced to tell about 30 couples who had lined up that she was unable to grant the licenses. The feisty clerk made headlines last month when she first began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples saying that she feared a lawsuit if she refused to grant licenses to gay couples. Dunlap cited the New Mexico constitution as the basis for her decision.

After about 100 couples received marriage licenses, Dunlap's office was shut down when Madrid ordered the county Sheriff to intercede. Dunlap has hired Albuquerque lawyer Paul Livingston and named Madrid and the Sandoval County Commission in a suit to have the restraining order lifted.

Livingston said the restraining order was illegally issued and will not hold up. "You can't just go to the judge and say 'restrain her,'" Livingston said. "You have to give notice to the defendant and have a hearing or have a good reason why you didn't. Victoria was never contacted."

The restraining order that was issued by state District Court judge Kenneth Brown said the legality of same-sex marriages should be determined on a statewide basis. "Sandoval County is not an island unto itself to determine the laws in the state of New Mexico," the order states.

Livingston said he will argue that Dunlap had a constitutional obligation to allow people to get a marriage license. "It's very clear--New Mexico has no law prohibiting same-sex marriage," Livingston said. "When you are a clerk and your job is to issue marriage licenses, you shouldn't be called names and have to be defensive about doing your job."

link
posted by Eve at 5:20 PM | link

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home