Victory in Lambda Legal’s North Dakota Marriage Case

Today, in the Lambda Legal case Jorgensen v. Montplaisir, the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota lifted the stay on the case and struck down the state’s discriminatory marriage ban. On Friday, on the heels of the historic ruling declaring marriage bans across the country unconstitutional, Lambda Legal filed a motion asking the court to immediately strike down the state’s ban on marriage for same-sex couples in North Dakota.

Lambda Legal Staff Attorney Kyle Palazzolo said:

We are thrilled that the court decided to take swift action to remove this harmful and discriminatory law from its history books. After the historic ruling on Friday by the Supreme Court, there was no legal or moral justification for forcing same-sex couples in North Dakota to wait to have their love and commitment recognized by the state. We are so excited for our plaintiff couple Jan and Cindy and all families in North Dakota who have been waiting for this day for far too long.

On Friday, after the Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that denying same-sex couples the freedom to marry violates the U.S. Constitution, Lambda Legal quickly filed a motion with the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota, along with requests with the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the First and Fifth Circuits seeking similar relief for same-sex couples in Puerto Rico and Louisiana, asking the court act quickly and strike down the North Dakota ban.

Jorgensen v. Montplaisir had been stayed before the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota.

Read the press release.