A Tennessee judge rejects the divorce of a straight couple, citing a rule on homosexual marriage.
Attorney Jeffrey Atherton accused him of “unnecessary grandstanding, saying that the US Supreme Court has declared Tennesseeans “incompetent to define” marriage.
Due to the US Supreme Court’s decision legalizing homosexual marriage, a Tennessee judge has dismissed a divorce petition, forcing a couple to get married against their will.
The couple’s divorce petition was dismissed by Hamilton County Chancellor Jeffrey Atherton last week on the grounds that Tennessee’s capacity to define divorce had been tarnished by the national marriage equality verdict.
The Times Free Press stated that Atherton rejected the plea on the grounds that the Supreme Court had not made clear “when a marriage is no longer a marriage.Now that the US Supreme Court has outlined the conditions that must be met for a marriage to be recognized, it seems that Tennessee’s judiciary will have to wait for the court to rule on what constitutes a marriage and what does not—or, more accurately, when a marriage ends, as Atherton noted in the opinion.According to Atherton, “this Court has concluded that Tennesseans have been deemed incompetent to define and address such keystone/central institutions as marriage and, thereby, contested divorces at minimum.Thomas and Pamela Bumgardner were married in November 2002 and separated in September 2014. According to Atherton, the couple’s divorce was never proven, but they cited irreconcilable differences and unacceptable marital conduct. Guardian requests for comment were not immediately answered by the couple’s attorneys.According to Regina Lambert, an attorney who defended Tennessee plaintiffs in the Supreme Court case, the decision has not gone down well in Tennessee, a state that has reacted favorably to the June ruling.According to Lambert, Atherton was using the divorce case to voice his views on the decision, which only affects same-sex divorce rules by permitting it.She told the Guardian, I believe the chancellor was more expressing his personal sentiments than having a valid worry about the divorce laws. “The judge is merely making a show of himself to show his disdain.Atherton’s judgment is made in response to state officials who have disregarded the Supreme Court’s verdict. Kim Davis, the county clerk for Kentucky, gained notoriety across the globe last week when she declined to grant marriage licenses to couples who are of the same sex. Davis is scheduled to appear in court today, where she may face contempt from a federal judge for disobeying his directive to grant the licenses.I find it fascinating to challenge the Supreme Court, Lambert said, adding that Atherton’s refusal to grant Davis’s divorce is set in a “wholly different context.The Bumgardners may reapply for divorce if they have new grounds. Atherton expressed his wish for their reconciliation to the Times Free Press.Lambert remarked, I just feel bad for the couple.
