Anti Marriage Equality Lawmaker Returns to Court for Challenge of Hawaiian Same Sex Marriage Law

Anti Marriage Equality Lawmaker Returns to Court for Challenge of Hawaiian Same Sex Marriage Law

Posted by: Lez Get Real on November 27, 2013.

Hawaiian Republican Rep. Bob McDermott has filed a new motion in court looking to invalidate the state’s new law legalizing same sex marriages.
According to The Honolulu Star Advertiser: 

The motion asks Judge Karl Sakamoto to reconsider the significance of Hawaii’s 1998 constitutional amendment; McDermott argues that measure prevents the Legislature from expanding marriage to same-sex couples.
“This is a serious issue, and we have case law and precedent on our side,” McDermott said in a statement today announcing the motion. “We shall fully litigate this through the appeals process.”

In a Nov. 14 decision of McDermott’s earlier suit, Sakamoto refused to issue the temporary restraining order being sought by McDermott and a group of Christians looking to prevent the state from issuing licenses to gay couples. Sakamoto also ruled McDermott and his fellow same-sex marriage opponents had standing to bring the lawsuit. He further said the plain meaning behind the vote for the 1998 constitutional amendment was for the Legislature to reserve marriage to heterosexual couples.
However, Sakamoto held that the 1998 vote did not restrict the Legislature’s separate authority to enact laws that define marriage.
McDermott’s new lawsuit says that the constitutional amendment does restrict that separate authority.
“The court battle is not over,” McDermott wrote on his Facebook page last week. “Please support our effort to protect the 1998 decision of Hawaii’s people in favor of the protection of traditional marriage. Don’t let Gov. Abercrombie rewrite history and the meaning of the constitutional amendment.”
A hearing on McDermott’s latest motion is scheduled for Jan. 13.