Campaign for Southern Equality Moves to Reopen Marriage Case to Address Mississippi’s New “Religious Freedom” Statute

As reported in Buzzfeed, Mississippi Today and other media outlets, Paul, Weiss clients the Campaign for Southern Equality, Carla Webb, Joce Pritchett, Andrea Sanders and Rebecca Bickett moved to reopen Campaign for Southern Equality  v. Bryant, in which they had won a permanent injunction securing marriage equality for all Mississippians. The plaintiffs' motion asked for additional relief from the court to address the so-called "Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act," enacted earlier this year by Mississippi, which, among other things, permits county clerks to refuse to issue marriage licenses to gay or lesbian couples, provided they say they are doing so based on a "sincerely held religious belief" that "[m]arriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman." The plaintiffs have now asked the court to modify the permanent injunction to order that any such "recusals" not impede or delay authorization and licensing of any legally valid marriage; order that any clerk who stops issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples must cease offering marriage licenses altogether; and require the state to provide certain information to the court and the Campaign for Southern Equality to ensure compliance with the permanent injunction.

The Paul, Weiss team included, among others, litigation partners Roberta Kaplan, Andrew Ehrlich, William Michael and Jaren Janghorbani and associates Joshua Kaye, Jacob Hupart, Jacob Taber, William Freeland and Alex Hess.