State Says Same-Sex Couples In Montgomery County Should Not Be Allowed To Intervene In Lawsuit
By Tony Romeo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Lawyers for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania say gay couples who got marriage licenses should not be allowed to intervene in the lawsuit against a Montgomery County official because their licenses are invalid.
Oral arguments are set for next Wednesday in Commonwealth Court in the lawsuit brought by the Corbett administration in an effort to stop Montgomery County from issuing marriage licenses to gay couples.
In a brief filed in response to an attempt to intervene in the case by same sex couples who got licenses, the administration says the couples have no standing because their licenses were issued illegally and are thus "null and void". The state also argues that the issue of whether or not the definition of marriage in state law is constitutional is irrelevant in this case.
What matters, the state says, is a county official's "blatant disregard for the mandates of the law" – claiming "for himself the judicial right to declare laws unconstitutional, along with the legislative power to devise an alternate system of marriage."
