Because of the depth of analysis required, formal opinions often take months, sometimes years, to issue, he said. Gansler received a request for the opinion in May from Sen. Richard S. Madaleno Jr. (D-Dist. 18) of Kensington, who is openly gay and is the lead sponsor on a same-sex marriage bill in the Senate.
By Thursday, many lawmakers had not yet read the opinion and were hesitant to comment about Gansler's legal argument, much as some are hesitant to take a position on legalizing same-sex marriage unless forced to cast a vote.
Under the opinion, "state agencies in Maryland will recognize out-of-state gay marriages as of right now," Gansler said.
That includes all the rights that married heterosexual state employees are afforded "unless a court or the legislature decides differently," he said.
The much-anticipated opinion says nothing about allowing same sex couples to wed in Maryland, but it provides an interpretation of the law and a "projection as to how our Court of Appeals would and will resolve this issue when confronted with it," Gansler said.
"What an Attorney General opinion does is it becomes the law of the land unless or until a legislature or a court overturns that decision," he said.
The commentary almost writes itself at this point.
0 comments,:
Post a Comment