ADF attorney available to media after hearing over right to vote on DC marriage redefinition law
ADF, Stand4MarriageDC appealing Board of Election’s decision to shut out votersThursday, February 18, 2010
WASHINGTON — Alliance Defense Fund Senior Legal Counsel Austin R. Nimocks will be available for media interviews following his arguments at a hearing Friday in a lawsuit filed by Alliance Defense Fund and Stand4MarriageDC attorneys on behalf of registered D.C. voters. Bishop Harry Jackson and other registered voters appealed a decision by the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics earlier this month that rejected a proposed referendum which would have allowed voters to have a say on the D.C. Council’s new law that changes the legal definition of marriage.
ADF and Stand4MarriageDC attorneys are also asking the court to keep the new law from going into effect in March while the lawsuit proceeds.
“A new definition of marriage should not be imposed upon the people of D.C. without their consent, and the majority of D.C. residents agree,” said Nimocks. “The court should support the people’s right to vote on this referendum, which would allow them to partake in a legitimate democratic process to decide a critical matter that affects everyone in the district.”
A Jan. 28 Washington Post poll showed that 59 percent of adult D.C. residents believe voters should be allowed to vote yes or no on the D.C. Council’s marriage redefinition law.
Jackson and seven other D.C. registered voters filed a referendum on Jan. 6 with the Board of Elections to give the district’s voters the opportunity to vote on the law. On Feb. 4, the board rejected the proposed referendum.
On Dec. 15, 2009, the D.C. Council voted 11-2 for final approval of Bill 18-0482, which was signed two days later as the “Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009” by D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty. It is undergoing review by Congress and will become law on March 2 unless Congress disapproves it or the court grants the motion to stop it from going into effect.
Stand4MarriageDC.com attorney Cleta Mitchell is serving as co-counsel in the lawsuit.
ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.
LEGAL DOCS
Text of referendum on the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009
RELATED RESOURCES
Fact Sheet: Jackson v. District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics
Washington Post poll: DC marriage redefinition law
U.S. Census: Married Households v. Same-Sex Households
Map: Legal Battles in the Defense of Marriage
Website: DOMA Watch
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ABOUT Austin R. Nimocks
Austin R. Nimocks serves as senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund at its Washington, D.C., Regional Service Center, where he litigates as a member of the marriage litigation team. Before joining ADF in 2007, he served more than 10 years in private practice, most recently at Austin R. Nimocks & Associates, P.L.L.C., in Biloxi, Miss. Nimocks earned his J.D. from the Baylor University School of Law in Waco, Texas. He is admitted to the bars of the District of Columbia, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Arizona, and has appeared before various federal and state courts around the country.