On November 22, 2013, two women in a long term relationship filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Cook County. The plaintiffs, represented by private counsel, the ACLU, and Lambda Legal, asked the Court to prohibit the County from enforcing the state marriage ban and to require the County to issue them a marriage license. The plaintiffs contended that failure to do so would constitute a violation of the due process and equal protection guarantees of the United States Constitution.

One of the plaintiffs suffers from terminal breast cancer and she and her longtime partner wish to be married in Illinois before she passes away. An immediate injunction prohibiting enforcement of the Illinois marriage ban would be the only way to ensure that plaintiffs' hope of being legally married would be realized during their lifetimes. Although the Illinois legislature enacted a law that would allow same-sex couples to marry, that law was not scheduled to go into effect until June 1, 2014 (about six months after the complaint was filed). The plaintiffs feared that the terminally ill plaintiff would not live until the expiration of the marriage ban and asked the court to prohibit the County from enforcing the marriage ban in their specific case.

On December 5, 2013, Judge Thomas Durkin issued an opinion granting injunctive relief to the plaintiffs. The Court found that given the compelling circumstances surrounding the plaintiff's medical condition and her potentially imminent death, the injury she and her partner would suffer by denying injunctive relief would be irreparably great. The court noted that the relief granted was limited and extended no further than to the specific plaintiffs. The Court ultimately ordered the County not to enforce the marriage ban and to issue the plaintiffs a marriage license. 2013 WL 6355918, __ F. Supp. 2d __ (N.D. Ill. 2013).

Nate West - 09/23/2014


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