Pa. Health Dept. sues to stop Montgomery County official from issuing same-sex marriage licenses
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer 
The state has filed a lawsuit against a Montgomery County official for issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Last week, Bruce Hanes, the register of wills, began granting licenses at the county courthouse. The lawsuit, filed this morning by the state Department of Health's chief counsel, asks that the court immediately force Hanes to "comply with the [Pennsylvania] Marriage Law and to direct the Clerk to immediately cease and desist issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples."
"Compliance with Pennsylvania law by its public officials is a mandatory obligation," the suit states. "Ours is a government of laws, not one of public officials exercising their will as they believe the law should be or will be." Hanes is not the only elected official to come out against Pennsylvania's state law mandating marriage as a union strictly between a man and a woman. State Attorney General Kathleen Kane said earlier in July that she would not defend the state against lawsuits calling into question the legality of Pennsylvania's Marriage Act. The commonwealth is one of 35 states that prohibits same-sex marriage.
Gov. Tom Corbett's administration is expected to defend the state's one man-one woman marriage law in court following the U.S. Supreme Court's recent DOMA ruling that struck down several provisions of the law. The chief counsel for the Office of General Counsel also sent a letter today to Kane's office, stating in part, "The Attorney General's unprecedented public adjudication of the state's alleged unconstitutionality was an improper usurpation of the role of the courts, which at a minimum, causes confusion among those charged with administering the law."
The lawsuit against Hanes and the letter to Kane's office signal the first blows by the Corbett administration to subdue what could become growing challenges to Pennsylvania's version of the federal DOMA law. The Health Department lawsuit could become an important precedent to determine whether public officials have the right to interpret the legality of the state's Marriage Law on their own.
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/Pa_Health_Dept_sues_to_stop_Montgomery_County_official_from_issuing_same-sex_marriage_licenses.html
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I always end up back here. It is beautiful. Wish I didn't live in red central.
