TEXAS: Plaintiffs Ask Fifth Circuit Court To Lift Stay On Same-Sex Marriages

John Wright reports at the Texas Observer:

Attorneys for two gay couples are asking a federal appeals court to allow same-sex marriages to begin in Texas immediately. In a motion filed Thursday, attorneys for the couples asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to lift a district judge’s stay of his 2014 decision striking down Texas’ marriage ban. If the 5th Circuit agrees to lift the stay, it would clear the way for same-sex marriages to begin in Texas. If the 5th Circuit doesn’t lift the stay for all same-sex couples, the motion asks that it be lifted for the limited purpose of establishing the parental rights of plaintiff Cleopatra DeLeon, whose wife, Nicole Dimetman, is expecting a child in March. The motion cites the U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to halt same-sex marriages in both Alabama and Florida, after federal district judges struck down bans in those states.

Yesterday's motion will be considered by the same Fifth Circuit three-judge panel that heard oral arguments in the Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana cases last month. Most observers at the courthouse that day have predicted a 2-1 split in favor of the plaintiffs in all three cases.