Bourke v. Beshear

MEMORANDUM OPINION

JOHN G. HEYBURN II, District Judge.

Four same-sex couples validly married outside Kentucky have challenged the constitutionality of Kentucky’s constitutional and statutory provisions that exclude them from the state recognition and benefits of marriage available to similarly situated opposite-sex couples.

While Kentucky unquestionably has the power to regulate the recognition of civil marriages, those regulations must comply with the Constitution of the United States. This court’s role is not to impose its own political or policy judgments on the Commonwealth or its people.…