First Circuit removes district judge in marriage case

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, on April 7, once again affirmed that Puerto Rico’s marriage ban is unconstitutional, saying that the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic decision in Obergefell v. Hodges applies to the country’s territories and states.

In so doing, it ordered the District Court of Puerto Rico to enter judgment in favor of the plaintiffs and that the case be reassigned to a different district court judge.

“The First Circuit’s ruling is both unequivocal and unsurprising. There is no question that the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges applies to Puerto Rico just as equally as it does across the rest of the United States,” said Lambda Legal Staff Attorney Omar Gonzalez-Pagan in a statement.

The case is Conde-Vidal, et al v. Rius-Armendariz, et al. Lambda Legal attorneys Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, Hayley Gorenberg and Karen Loewy are handling the case, joined by co-counsel Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, and Celina Romany-Siaca. Ada Conde-Vidal (an attorney), who is represented by Jose L. Nieto, represents her wife.

Also see windycitytimes.com/lgbt/1st-Circuit-removes-judge-reaffirms-bans-unconstitutionality-in-Puerto-Rico-marriage-/54868.html.