On April 14, 2014, several same-sex couples married in Michigan on March 22, 2014 filed this § 1983 civil rights action against the State in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The plaintiffs, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and private counsel, asked the court to declare that the same-sex marriage ban was unconstitutional when applied to Michigan's same-sex couples, to enjoin the State of Michigan from refusing to recognize those marriages, and to award attorney's fees and costs. The complaint named the governor, and the directors of the Department of Human Services, the Office of Retirement Services, and the Department of Community Health as defendants in their official capacities. The case was assigned to District Judge Mark A. Goldsmith and referred to Magistrate Judge Mona K. Majzoub.

The plaintiffs had all been married in Michigan on March 22nd, 2014, during the window of time between the decision in DeBoer v. Snyder, which overturned the ban on same-sex marriage, and the stay issued by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which had enjoined the state from enforcing the ban on same-sex marriage. The plaintiffs' marriages were legal at the time they were solemnized. After the stay, the governor of Michigan suspended the benefits and rights associated with the plaintiffs' marriages. The plaintiffs alleged the suspension put their marriages in a state of legal limbo and violated their rights to due process and equal protection.

The plaintiffs filed a motion for preliminary injunction on May 29, 2014, and the defendants filed motions to stay, to dismiss, and to consolidate cases. On January 15, 2015, Judge Goldsmith ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, granting their motion for a preliminary injunction enjoining the State of Michigan from refusing to recognize the marriages of all same-sex couples lawfully married in the state between the district court's decision in DeBoer v. Snyder and before the issuance of the stay by the Sixth Circuit. The judge also denied the defendants' motions to stay, to dismiss, and to consolidate cases.

A final declaratory judgment permanently enjoining the defendants was issued on February 24, 2015. It is unclear from the docket whether the plaintiffs were awarded attorneys' fees in this case. The case is now closed.

Megan Dolan - 07/01/2014
Thomas Topping - 03/02/2015
Esther Vinarov - 11/19/2018


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