Varnum v. Brien
Encyclopedia
Varnum v. Brien, 763 N.W.2d 862 (Iowa 2009)
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...

, is an Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

 court case in which six same-sex couples filed suit against Timothy Brien, Polk County
Polk County, Iowa
Polk County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 430,640 in the 2010 census, an increase from 374,601 in the 2000 census. The county seat is Des Moines, which is also the capital city of Iowa...

 Recorder, for refusing to grant marriage licenses to them. This refusal was consistent with Iowa law at the time, but the plaintiffs argued that the statute defining marriage only as a union between a man and a woman violated the equal protection clause in the Iowa constitution. Robert Hanson, a judge in the Polk County District Court, granted summary judgment
Summary judgment
In law, a summary judgment is a determination made by a court without a full trial. Such a judgment may be issued as to the merits of an entire case, or of specific issues in that case....

 in favor of the plaintiffs. This judgment was appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court
Iowa Supreme Court
The Iowa Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Iowa. As constitutional head of the Iowa Judicial Branch, the Court is composed of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices....

, where it was unanimously upheld in a ruling that was released on April 3, 2009, allowing same-sex marriage in Iowa
Same-sex marriage in Iowa
Same-sex marriage in the U.S. state of Iowa became legal on April 3, 2009.Iowa's first dealings with same-sex marriage came in 1998, after recent court cases on same-sex unions, starting in Hawaii, found that denying the right to marry to same-sex couples was incompatible with the Equal Protection...

.

The Democratic leadership of the Iowa state legislature
Iowa General Assembly
The Iowa General Assembly is the legislative branch of the state government of Iowa. Like the federal United States Congress, the General Assembly is a bicameral body, composed of the upper house Iowa Senate and the lower Iowa House of Representatives respectively...

 welcomed the decision. Some Republican leaders called for a state constitutional amendment to overturn the ruling, but neither the legislature nor the Governor at the time of the ruling supported this.

Issue

Six same-sex couples went to the Office of the Polk County Recorder in Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines is the capital and the most populous city in the US state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small portion of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines which was shortened to "Des Moines" in 1857...

 at various times between November 2005 and January 2006 in an attempt to apply for marriage license
Marriage license
A marriage license is a document issued, either by a church or state authority, authorizing a couple to marry. The procedure for obtaining a license varies between countries and has changed over time...

s. Each couple's application was denied because in each case the couple was composed of two people of the same sex, and Iowa law only permitted couples composed of one man and one woman to marry. The couples filed suit in Polk County District Court, arguing that this law violated certain rights guaranteed by the Iowa constitution.

Original ruling

Judge Robert Hanson of Polk County District Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs on August 30, 2007. He ruled that the marriage statute was unconstitutional, and that the Polk County Recorder was required to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples who otherwise meet the requirements for marriage. Hanson's ruling states, in part, that
Couples, such as plaintiffs, who are otherwise qualified to marry one another may not be denied licenses to marry or certificates of marriage or in any other way prevented from entering into a civil marriage... by reason of the fact that both persons comprising such a couple are of the same sex.


Judge Hanson issued a stay of his ruling on August 31, 2007 in anticipation of an appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court. One same-sex couple was able to obtain a marriage license in the brief time between Hanson's ruling and the stay.

Supreme Court ruling

Polk County appealed the original ruling to the Iowa Supreme Court. The Court heard oral arguments regarding the case on December 9, 2008. In a unanimous opinion authored by Justice Cady, the Court affirmed Hanson's original decision on April 3, 2009.

The Court initially stated its duty to protect the right of individuals:

Our responsibility, however, is to protect constitutional rights of individuals from legislative enactments that have denied those rights, even when the rights have not yet been broadly accepted, were at one time unimagined, or challenge a deeply ingrained practice or law viewed to be impervious to the passage of time.


The Court also noted that Iowa has a long history of progressive thought on civil rights. Seventeen years before Dred Scott
Dred Scott
Dred Scott , was an African-American slave in the United States who unsuccessfully sued for his freedom and that of his wife and their two daughters in the Dred Scott v...

 was deemed merely property of his owner, the Iowa Supreme Court "refused to treat a human being as property to enforce a contract for slavery and held our laws must extend equal protection to persons of all races and conditions." Eighty-six years before "separate but equal" was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 , was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which...

, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled such practices unconstitutional in Iowa. In 1869, Iowa was also the first state in the union to admit women to the bar and allow them to practice law. Three years later the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the State of Illinois' decision to deny women admission to the bar.

The Court stated that the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution requires that laws treat alike all those who are similarly situated with respect to the purposes of the law, and concluded that homosexual persons are similarly situated compared to heterosexual persons for purposes of Iowa's marriage laws. After having examined the governmental objectives proffered by the county (maintaining traditional marriage, promotion of an optimal environment to raise children, promotion of procreation, promotion of stability in opposite-sex relationships and conservation of resources) under intermediate scrutiny
Intermediate scrutiny
Intermediate scrutiny, in U.S. constitutional law, is the second level of deciding issues using judicial review. The other levels are typically referred to as rational basis review and strict scrutiny ....

, the Court concluded that:

"We are firmly convinced the exclusion of gay and lesbian people from the institution of civil marriage does not substantially further any important governmental objective. The legislature has excluded a historically disfavored class of persons from a supremely important civil institution without a constitutionally sufficient justification. There is no material fact, genuinely in dispute, that can affect this determination."


Because plaintiffs brought a state constitutional claim, federal precedents from the United States Supreme Court were not binding on the Iowa court's decision, and the decision cannot be reviewed by a federal court. But the court did note the national development of gay rights in both Lawrence v. Texas
Lawrence v. Texas
Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 , is a landmark United States Supreme Court case. In the 6-3 ruling, the Court struck down the sodomy law in Texas and, by proxy, invalidated sodomy laws in the thirteen other states where they remained in existence, thereby making same-sex sexual activity legal in...

and Romer v. Evans
Romer v. Evans
Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620 , is a landmark United States Supreme Court case dealing with civil rights and state laws. It was the first Supreme Court case to deal with LGBT rights since Bowers v...

, and also cited discussion in these cases as evidence of a history of discrimination against gays and lesbians.

There were 24 Amicus curiae
Amicus curiae
An amicus curiae is someone, not a party to a case, who volunteers to offer information to assist a court in deciding a matter before it...

 briefs filed with the court. Including the judges there were 90 attorneys involved in this case.

On April 27, 2009, the Iowa Supreme Court issued a procedendo
Procedendo
In common law jurisprudence, procedendo is one of the prerogative writs. It is a writ that sends a case from an appellate court to a lower court with an order to proceed to judgment....

 directing the Iowa District Court for the County of Polk to "proceed in the manner required by law and consistent with the opinion of the court." The court's decision became effective with the issuance of the procedendo.

Political responses

In a joint press release on April 3, Iowa House Speaker Pat Murphy
Pat Murphy (Iowa politician)
Patrick Joseph "Pat" Murphy is the Iowa State Representative from the 28th District. He is a former Speaker of the Iowa House. He also previously served as Minority Leader from 2003-07. Murphy is a Democrat and has served in the Iowa House since winning a special election in 1989...

 and Senate majority leader Mike Gronstal
Michael Gronstal
Michael E. Gronstal is the Iowa State Senator representing the 50th District in the Iowa Senate. He has served since 1985 and is currently the majority leader and chairman of the Rules and Administration committee...

 welcomed the court's decision, saying "When all is said and done, we believe the only lasting question about today’s events will be why it took us so long. It is a tough question to answer because treating everyone fairly is really a matter of Iowa common sense and Iowa common decency. Iowa has always been a leader in the area of civil rights.”

Iowa State Senator Matt McCoy
Matt McCoy (Iowa politician)
Matthew W. "Matt" McCoy is the Iowa State Senator from the 31st District, which is composed of south and southwest Des Moines. A Democrat, McCoy has served in the Iowa Senate since 1997....

, who is openly gay, welcomed the decision, calling it "a red letter day for the state of Iowa."

The state Senate Republican leader, Paul McKinley
Paul McKinley
Paul McKinley is the Iowa State Senator from the 36th District. He has served in the Iowa Senate since 2001 and has served as Senate minority leader since 2009....

, expressed disappointment and called for a constitutional amendment that "protects traditional marriage."

There are two ways to amend the Iowa constitution. One way is for an amendment to pass the legislature in two successive sessions, then be approved by a popular vote. The other is for a popular vote to convene a constitutional convention and then have any amendments approved by a popular vote. The people of Iowa are given the option of forming a constitutional convention every ten years in Iowa.

Iowa Governor Chet Culver
Chet Culver
Chester John "Chet" Culver was the 41st Governor of Iowa, from 2007 to 2011. He was also elected as the Federal Liaison for the Democratic Governors Association for 2008-2009. He founded the Chet Culver Group, an energy sector consulting firm, in 2011.-Early life and education:Culver was born in...

 stated that he is "reluctant to support amending the Iowa Constitution to add a provision that our Supreme Court has said is unlawful and discriminatory,"

Iowa business owner Bob Vander Plaats
Bob Vander Plaats
Robert L. "Bob" Vander Plaats is a three-time candidate for Iowa’s governorship and former Republican nominee for lieutenant governor...

, in his failed bid for the Republican gubernatorial primary, promised to "issue an executive order that puts a stay on same-sex marriages until the people of Iowa vote", although state officials say that the governor lacks the power to halt State Supreme Court decisions.

Critics contend that court rulings that grant same-sex couples the right to marry overstep the constitutional authority of the judicial branch, asserting that such decisions should be left to more representative processes such as legislation and ballot-initiatives. Others contend though that the questions concerning equal treatment under the law and due process, in regards to denying same sex couples the right to marry, unequivocally deserves a response from the court.

In response to the decision, Iowans dismissed, through retention election
Retention election
A judicial retention election is a periodic process whereby a judge is subject to a referendum held at the same time as a general election...

, Chief Justice Marsha Ternus, Justice David Baker, and Justice Michael Streit on November 2, 2010. http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20101103/NEWS09/11030390/Iowans-dismiss-three-justices The removal marked the first time an Iowa Supreme Court justice has not been retained since 1962, when the retention system was adopted for Iowa justices.

See also

  • Same-sex marriage in the United States
    Same-sex marriage in the United States
    The federal government does not recognize same-sex marriage in the United States, but such marriages are recognized by some individual states. The lack of federal recognition was codified in 1996 by the Defense of Marriage Act, before Massachusetts became the first state to grant marriage licenses...

  • Same-sex marriage in Iowa
    Same-sex marriage in Iowa
    Same-sex marriage in the U.S. state of Iowa became legal on April 3, 2009.Iowa's first dealings with same-sex marriage came in 1998, after recent court cases on same-sex unions, starting in Hawaii, found that denying the right to marry to same-sex couples was incompatible with the Equal Protection...

  • LGBT rights in Iowa
    LGBT rights in Iowa
    The establishment of LGBT rights in the U.S. state of Iowa is a recent phenomenon, with most advances in LGBT rights taking place since 2007...

  • Baker v. Vermont
    Baker v. Vermont
    Baker v. Vermont, 744 A.2d 864 , was handed down on December 20, 1999 by the Vermont Supreme Court. The decision represented one of the first high-level judicial affirmations of same-sex couples' right to treatment equivalent to that of traditionally married couples...

    , 744 A.2d 864 (Vt. 1999)
  • Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health, 798 N.E.2d 941 (Mass. 2003)
  • Lewis v. Harris
    Lewis v. Harris
    Lewis v. Harris, 188 N.J. 415; 908 A.2d 196 , is a New Jersey Supreme Court case that held that same-sex couples are entitled to the same equal protection as heterosexual couples under the state constitution....

    , 188 N.J. 415 (N.J. 2006)
  • Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health
    Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health
    Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health, 289 Conn. 135, 957 A.2d 407, is a 2008 decision by the Connecticut Supreme Court holding that the Connecticut Constitution protects the right to same-sex marriage. The vote was 4-3. The decision made Connecticut the third state to have its state supreme...

    , 289 Conn. 135 (2008)
  • In re Marriage Cases
    In re Marriage Cases
    In re Marriage Cases 43 Cal.4th 757 [76 Cal.Rptr.3d 683, 183 P.3d 384], was a California Supreme Court case with the dual holding that "statutes that treat persons differently because of their sexual orientation should be subjected to strict scrutiny" and the existing "California legislative and...

    , 43 Cal.4th 757 (2008)
  • Thomas More Society
    Thomas More Society
    The Thomas More Society Pro-Life Law Center is a Chicago non-profit law firm primarily devoted to abortion related cases.The firm contributed an Amicus Curiae brief to the Varnum v...


External links

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