FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 11, 2005

Statement of GLAD on Doyle v. Goodridge

Yesterday, the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts scheduled oral arguments in the case of C. Joseph Doyle vs. Hillary Goodridge et al. Arguments will take place in April 2005.

The Doyle case was one of numerous attempts to block the May 17, 2004 implementation of the Goodridge decision and the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples. It failed before a single justice of the Supreme Judicial Court and then the full court denied both immediate relief and an expedited appeal.

As a result, the appeal proceeded “in the ordinary course” which means full briefing, and then oral argument, which the Court has now indicated will take place in April. The notice of argument is simply a routine matter of court business.

According to GLAD Legal Director Gary Buseck, “The Doyle case represents perhaps the final loose end that requires clean-up in the aftermath of the desperate efforts to undermine the Goodridge decision. Goodridge is and remains the law of the Commonwealth, and there is absolutely no reason to expect that will change.”