City Bar and Vance Center Team with Weil, Human Rights Watch and Others on Supreme Court Marriage Equality Amicus Brief

The New York City Bar Association, through its LGBT Rights Committee and its Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice, along with Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, Human Rights Watch and several international partners, submitted an amicus brief to the United States Supreme Court in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges on marriage equality for same-sex couples. The brief reviews the situations in five countries—the Netherlands, Canada, South Africa, Argentina, and New Zealand—on different continents that have introduced marriage equality, and asks the Court to look to them for guidance as it hears arguments on the issue in the States. The international partners are: Canadian Civil Liberties Association; The National Council for Civil Liberties (“Liberty”), UK; Legal Resources Centre, South Africa; Center for Legal and Social Studies, Argentina; and La Federación Argentina de Lesbianas, Gays, Bisexuales y Trans, Argentina. Weil attorneys Richard Levine and Robert Vlasis III were counsel for the amici curiae, and Marie-Claude Jean-Baptiste and Suzanne Knijnenburg were the Vance Center’s attorneys on the matter. The brief may be read here: http://bit.ly/1xzp316