Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 26, No. 44, Ed. 1 Friday, March 19, 2010 Page: 13 of 112
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texasnews
Hearing set in Dallas
gay divorce case
3-judge panel from 5th District Court
of Appeals sets oral arguments for
April 21; decision goes against
wishes of Texas AG's office
JOHN WRIGHT I News Editor
wright@dallasvoice.com
Against the wishes of Texas Attorney General
Greg Abbott's office, a state appeals court in Dal-
las has scheduled oral arguments in a high-profile
same-sex divorce case.
An all-Republican, three-judge panel of the 5th
District Court of Appeals is set to hear oral argu-
ments April 21 in the AG's appeal of a district
court's October ruling, "In the Matter of the Mar-
riage of J.B. and H.B."
J.B. and H.B., whose full names aren't being
used in the proceedings, were married in Massa-
chusetts in 2006 before moving to Texas in 2008.
In January 2009, J.B. filed for a divorce in Dallas'
302nd Family District Court.
A day later, the AG's office intervened in the
case, arguing that Judge Tena Callahan couldn't
grant the divorce because Texas doesn't recognize
same-sex marriage.
But in her ruling last fall, Callahan declared that
the state's bans on same-sex marriage violate the
equal protection clause of the 14th amendment to
the U.S. Constitution.
Pete Schulte, a Dallas attorney who's been
joined in representing J.B. by the powerful Austin
firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Feld, said
he's pleased with the court's decision to hear oral
arguments.
The attorney general's office stated in its brief
to the appellate court that oral arguments aren't
necessary because the legal issues presented are
"far from novel." But Schulte called that claim
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"preposterous:"
"That's why
we're litigating
it, because it's
never been liti-
gated before,"
Schulte said of
same-sex di-
vorce in Texas.
"The Court
of Appeals in
Dallas is doing
their job," he
said. "They're
not just being
flippant about this. They're paying attention.
They want to hear the arguments, and I think
that's good for both sides.
"This is just telling me that there is no slam-
dunk answer on this," Schulte added. "Our hope
is that the court of appeals says* Tou know, you're
right, we're not going to allow same-sex marriage
in the state of Texas, but for the limited purpose
of divorce, we have to recognize the marriage just
for a split-second from another state, to allow
them to end that relationship legally in Texas,
through a divorce proceeding, not through any
other type of proceeding that may look like di-
vorce/"
Ken Upton, a senior staff attorney at Lambda
Legal, the LGBT civil rights organization, said he
isn't particularly surprised by the appeals court's
decision to hear oral arguments.
"If I were the panel, I would want arguments,
because if they follow the law, as opposed to fol-
lowing the political pressure, it's a winning argu-
ment," Upton said. "If I were the appellate court,
I'd feel in a bind maybe, because the law really is
supportive of the people trying to get a divorce,
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Nash, Tammye. Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 26, No. 44, Ed. 1 Friday, March 19, 2010, newspaper, March 19, 2010; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth239108/m1/13/: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.