Wed. August 7, 2013
Chicago, IL -
A Cook County Circuit Court judge Tuesday heard oral arguments in a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought about last year on behalf of 25 couples seeking the right to marry in Illinois.
Darby vs. Orr and Lazarro vs. Orr were filed against Cook County Clerk David Orr in mid-2012. The plaintiffs in the case are being represented by Lambda Legal and ACLU Illinois. Orr, who is in favor of marriage equality, has refused to defend the state's marriage ban, so the Thomas More Society, a conservative law firm, is representing five opposing county clerks in the matter.
Special State's Attorney Paul Benjamin Linton said Tuesday that the state's marriage ban, passed in 1996, was put in place to "codify what was obvious" and "make explicit what was implicit"—that Illinoisans believed marriage was an institution reserved for a man and a woman.
"It passed overwhelmingly and few legislators spoke about the bill when it came up for a vote," he said, adding that it was unfair to ascribe dubious motives to the legislation's authors.
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