[JURIST] The Fifteenth Judicial District Court of Louisiana issued a ruling Monday holding the state’s ban on the recognition of same-sex marriages performed outside of the state unconstitutional. The ruling comes just days after the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana [official website] became the first federal court to uphold a state’s ban on same-sex marriage [JURIST report] since the Supreme Court’s verdict in United States v. Windsor. In his decision, Judge Edward Rubin held that Louisiana’s same-sex marriage ban violates the US Constitution’s guarantees of Due Process, Equal Protection and Full Faith and Credit [Cornell LII backgrounders]. Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell [official website] plans to appeal the verdict [Times Picayune report] to the Louisiana Supreme Court [official website].

The debate over the legalization of same-sex marriage [JURIST backgrounder] is one of the most polarizing issues [JURIST op-ed] currently facing the American legal community Since the Supreme Court struck down [JURIST report] section three of the Defense of Marriage Act [text, PDF] last year, numerous state and federal courts have ruled on state same-sex marriage bans. Last week the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit approved a stay on its earlier ruling striking down Wisconsin and Indiana’s same-sex marriage bans, blocking same-sex marriage in the states [JURIST report] until the Supreme Court weighs in on the issue. That same week, the US District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia delayed ruling on a lawsuit challenging the state’s ban on same-sex marriage [JURIST report] until the Supreme Court has ruled on the issue. Earlier this month, 32 states asked the Supreme Court to issue a definitive ruling on same-sex marriage [JURIST report] to clear up the “morass” of lawsuits spurred by the Court’s decision in United States v. Windsor. In late August the Florida Second District Court of Appeal issued an opinion calling upon the Florida Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of the state’s ban on same-sex marriage [JURIST report].