Trial Date-Setting Postponed On Case Challenging PA’s Same-Sex Marriage Ban

The Associated Press reports that we’ll have to wait a little longer to get a trial date on the ACLU-filed case challenging Pennsylvania’s ban on same-sex marriage. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge John E. Jones 111 said he wants to consider a pre-trial motion by the defendants in the case that claims federal courts don’t have the jurisdiction to make a judgement on state marriage laws. More:

“If we’re right … the case is over,” said William Lamb, a former state Supreme Court justice who represents Gov. Tom Corbett and state Health Secretary Michael Wolf in the case. He was referring to a four-decades-old U.S. Supreme Court ruling that is the basis for Lamb’s motion to dismiss Corbett and Wolf as defendants.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs in the case say they don’t expect the motion to be granted. If it is, they said they will appeal to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia.

Jones said he would decide that and other motions by mid-November and set a follow-up scheduling meeting for Nov. 22, when he is more likely to set a trial date. The judge said the trial dates suggested so far by the two sides are about a year apart.

“I can’t see any reason that this case shouldn’t be tried in (2014), and earlier rather than later,” Jones said.