INDReporter

Another (symbolic) victory for equality in La.

The Louisiana Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with Lafayette Judge Ed Rubin in declining Attorney General Buddy Caldwell’s appeal of Rubin’s ruling that Louisiana’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional.

Angela Costanza and Chasity Brewer

The Louisiana Supreme Court on Tuesday symbolically sided with Lafayette district court Judge Ed Rubin in declining to hear state Attorney General Buddy Caldwell’s appeal of Rubin’s ruling last September that Louisiana’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. Rubin’s was the only district court-level ruling in favor of equality before the United States Supreme Court’s momentous ruling last week invalidating bans on same-sex marriage nationwide.

Judge Ed Rubin

According to an account at nola.com, the state justices move was a formality in light of the SCOTUS’s decision last week, and the Louisiana high court noted as much in writing Tuesday that “the issues presented in this appeal have been resolved.”

Rubin’s ruling last year was in favor of Angela Marie Costanza and Chasity Shanelle Brewer, a lesbian couple who were legally wed in California in 2008 but who were denied the right to have both of their names appear on their adopted son’s birth certificate. Rubin ruled that both of their names should appear on the certificate, which Caldwell appealed.

Blogger and political writer Lamar White Jr. wrote an excellent commentary for The IND last year on Costanza/Brewer and Rubin’s ruling titled “Righteous and Holy.” Read it here.