ILLINOIS: Thomas More Society Concedes Marriage Lawsuits Are Now Moot

Via press release:

This morning attorneys with the Thomas More Society secured an agreed Order, entered by Judge Sophia Hall, staying all further proceedings in the lawsuit filed by the Illinois ACLU and Lambda Legal, who filed suit over a year ago, challenging Illinois’ marriage laws as unconstitutional in violation of various provisions of the Illinois Constitution of 1970. Given Tuesday’s votes in the Illinois General Assembly, amending the marriage law to allow for same sex marriages and Governor Quinn’s announcement that he will soon sign the new measure into law, the Society, whose attorneys represent downstate County Clerks who intervened in the lawsuit, filed a motion contending that the lawsuit should be dismissed as “moot.”

According to the press release, Lambda Legal and the ACLU have, of course, agreed to the stay.

UPDATE: Lambda Legal director Jon Davidson jumped into the comments of this post.  He writes:



The Thomas More Society’s press release may have been misleading. The court’s order only stayed the Illinois marriage cases until Thursday of next week, and that is all that Lambda Legal and the ACLU agreed to. The cases are not moot at present, as same-sex couples currently are still not able to marry in Illinois. The cases will not be moot until same-sex couples actually can marry in the state.