Federal Judge: When One Partner Is Dying, Same-Sex Couples Should Be Able To Marry Early
http://www.buzzfeed.com/tonymerevick/federal-judge-same-sex-couples-with-terminal-illness-should
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan at an October marriage equality rally. Tony Merevick/BuzzFeed
A federal judge in Illinois has said same-sex couples in the state who face terminal illness should be able to marry ahead of when the states marriage equality law takes effect in June 2014. The only question that remains for the court is whether a method can be devised for enforcing such an order.
U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman has asked the parties to a lawsuit seeking that ruling to bring potential ways of resolving the question to her courtroom on Monday morning a hearing that could end with a decision paving the way for more same-sex couples to marry before the law takes effect June 1.
Last week, Johnson Coleman ordered the Cook County clerk in Chicago to grant marriage licenses to two couples in the case immediately, echoing an earlier ruling by another federal judge that allowed Vernita Gray and Patricia Ewert to marry.
In both cases, same-sex couples went to court arguing that they needed to be able to marry before the June 2014 effective date of the marriage equality bill because one of the partners faces a life-threatening illness that could result in the partners death before then.