SPECIAL ISSUE: Same-Sex Marriage, Federal and State--Appellate Court Dismisses Suit Challenging NY Marriage Equality Act

On June 24, 2011, in a dramatic 33-29 vote, the New York State Senate passed the Marriage Equality Act (MEA) legalizing same-sex marriage in the Empire State. Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed the bill into law the same night, and the first same-sex marriages were performed under the Act on July 24, 2011. The next day, a lawsuit was filed seeking to invalidate the MEA and any marriages performed under it. Among the causes of action alleged in the complaint was that members of the Republican-controlled State Senate were improperly lobbied at closed-door meetings ' four Senate Republican votes, joining the Democratic minority, ensured MEA's passage ' in violation of a statutory Open Meetings Law. Nearly a year later, a five-judge panel in New York's Appellate Division, Fourth Department, unanimously dismissed the sole cause of action in the suit that had survived motion practice in the court below. New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms v. New York State Senate, 2012 WL 2626921 (N.Y. App. Div. 4th Dep't July 6, 2012) (NYCF). In a report published in the New York Law Journal on July 9, a representative of plaintiffs' counsel indicated that “he expected to seek leave to appeal the ruling” to New York's highest court, the Court of Appeals. Plaintiffs have since moved for leave to appeal. The motion was returnable on Aug. 20, and a decision is expected shortly.