Arent Fox Files US Supreme Court Amicus Brief in Closely Watched Gay Marriage Case

New York - On March 6, Arent Fox LLP, led by Complex Litigation partner Hunter T. Carter and associate Matthew S. Trokenheim, filed an important amicus brief with the US Supreme Court on behalf of more than 200 active duty and retired police officers, firefighters, and medical techs who are representing thousands of first responders, many of whom are gay or lesbian.

In April, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral argument about whether the US Constitution requires that same-sex couples be allowed to marry or whether states are free to limit wedlock. The four gay marriage cases the Supreme Court has agreed to hear challenge same-sex marriage bans in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The lawsuits argue that the Fourteenth Amendment requires states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and to recognize out-of-state marriages between members of the same sex.

The filing follows amicus briefs that Arent Fox, through Hunter, submitted in 2014 on behalf of LGBT law enforcement groups in three cases before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, whose rulings in support of marriage equality the Supreme Court declined to review, as well as in numerous other US Circuit Courts of Appeals. 

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