| Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health | |
|---|---|
| Court | Connecticut Supreme Court |
| Full case name | Elizabeth Kerrigan et al. v. Commissioner of Public Health et. al. |
| Argued | May 14, 2007 |
| Decided | October 10, 2008 |
| Citation | 289 Conn. 135, 957 A.2d 407, (Conn 2007) |
| Holding | |
| Denying same-sex couples marriage licenses violated the equality and liberty provisions of the Connecticut Constitution. | |
| Court membership | |
| Judges sitting | Chase T. Rogers (recused),[a] David M. Borden, Joette Katz, Flemming L. Norcott, Jr., Richard N. Palmer, Christine S. Vertefeuille, Peter T. Zarella, Lubbie Harper Jr. (assigned to participate) |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Palmer, joined by Harper, Katz, Norcott |
| Dissent | Borden |
| Dissent | Vertefeuille |
| Dissent | Zarella |
| Rogers took no part in the consideration or decision of the case. | |
| Laws applied | |
| Conn. Consti. Article first, § 1, § 8, § 10, § 20, General Statutes § 46b-38nn | |
Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health, 289 Conn. 135, 957 A.2d 407, is a 2008 decision by the Connecticut Supreme Court holding that allowing same-sex couples to form same-sex unions but not marriages violates the Connecticut Constitution. It was the third time that a ruling by the highest court of a U.S. state legalized same-sex marriage, following Massachusetts in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health (2003) and California in In re Marriage Cases (2008). The decision legalized same-sex marriage in Connecticut when it came into effect on November 12, 2008. There were no attempts made to amend the state constitution to overrule the decision, and gender-neutral marriage statutes were passed into law in 2009.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).