Appling v. Doyle

Appling v. Doyle was a petition for original action before the Wisconsin Supreme Court regarding Wisconsin’s statewide, same-sex domestic partnership registry. The petition asked the Court for a declaration that the registry was unconstitutional and for a permanent injunction against the enactment of the registry, which was scheduled to begin on August 3, 2009.

The petition for original action was denied, and the case was refiled in circuit court. Ultimately, the domestic partnership registry was upheld as constitutional at the circuit court level, in appeals court, and by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

The lawsuit was filed based on Wisconsin's Question 1 approved in 2006, which was a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman.

Involved parties

Petitioners

The petitioners on the case were Wisconsin residents, Wisconsin taxpayers, and members of the board of directors of Wisconsin Family Action:

• Julaine Appling, Wisconsin Family Action President
• Jaren E. Hiller, Wisconsin Family Action board member
• Edmund L. Webster, Wisconsin Family Action board member

Legal Representation

Attorney Richard M. Esenberg, Michael D. Dean, Esq. of First Freedoms Foundation, and attorneys Austin Nimocks and Brian Raum from the Alliance Defense Fund represented the Wisconsin Family Action board members on this case.

Respondents

The defendants in the case were state officials in their official capacity:

• Jim Doyle (D), in his official capacity as Governor of the State of Wisconsin
• Karen Timberlake, in her official capacity as Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services
• John Kiesow, in his official capacity as State Registrar of Vital Statistics

Although a private legal firm was initially hired by Doyle, Gov. Scott Walker ultimately ended the deal with this firm in 2011—three years before the final ruling by the state supreme court. Lambda Legal, which intervened in the case to defend the domestic partnership registry, remained as the operative legal representation for the defendant side of the case.

History

On June 29, 2009, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle signed the same-sex domestic partnership registry into law as a provision of the 2010-11 state budget. The registry created a legal recognition of same-sex unions in Wisconsin.

On Thursday, July 23, 2009, Julaine Appling, President of Wisconsin Family Action, through attorneys at the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) and ADF-allied attorneys in Wisconsin, filed an original action with the Wisconsin Supreme Court asking the Court to declare the same-sex domestic partnership registry unconstitutional and to permanently enjoin the defendants from the enactment of the registry.

The petition asserted that the registry violated Wisconsin’s Marriage Protection Amendment, ratified by Wisconsin voters on November 7, 2009, by 59.4 percent to 41.6 percent. The amendment states:

Only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state. A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized in this state. Wisconsin Constitution; Article XIII, Section 13.

Lambda Legal filed to intervene in the case and requested the Wisconsin Supreme Court to reject the motion and require the plaintiffs to go through lower courts first. In November 2009, the supreme court rejected Appling's motion.

In August 2010, the Wisconsin Family Action and Alliance Defense Fund filed a lawsuit in Dane County Circuit Court requesting a ruling of unconstitutionality and an injunction against the domestic partnership registry. The court upheld the registry as constitutional in June 2011. In November 2010, Governor Scott Walker (R) was elected. He ordered the legal firm hired by Gov. Doyle to stop working to defend the domestic partnership registry and filed a motion to withdraw Gov. Doyle's request that the court find the registry constitutional. He also filed a motion to either be removed as a defendant in the case or to officially change the position of the office of governor to one opposed to the registry.

Plaintiffs appealed the decision, and, in December 2012, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's ruling and declared the registry constitutional. Ultimately, the case went all the way to the Washington Supreme Court and, in July 2014, upheld both lower court rulings and ruled that the registry was constitutional.

The Argument

The petitioners claimed the following:

The form of domestic partnership created by the domestic partnership registry is prohibited by Art. XIII, sec. 13 of the Wisconsin Constitution by creating and requiring recognition of a legal status substantially similar to that of marriage...Such domestic partnerships are entered into by same-sex partners and are officially created and acknowledged in essentially the identical way that marriages are entered into by a man and woman and are officially created and acknowledged.

The petitioners believe the registry violates the Wisconsin Marriage Protection Amendment because it creates a new legal status for domestic partners. The requirements for obtaining a domestic partnership certificate are the same as those required for obtaining a marriage license with even the price for the certificate the same as for the marriage license.

The petitioners asked the Court for three things:

1. to accept the case as an original action before the Court (instead of working the case up from the trial court level)
2. to declare the same-sex domestic partnership registry unconstitutional
3. to permanently enjoin the enactment of the same-sex domestic partnership registry.

External links

• WFA's Petition (dead link)
• WFA's Press Release (dead link)
• Video of the Appling talking about the legal challenge
• Fair Wisconsin Press Release
• ACLU of Wisconsin Press Release