Court dismisses lawsuit challenging NC law that allows magistrates to opt out of performing gay weddings

A federal appeals court has dismissed a lawsuit that challenged a North Carolina law that allows magistrates to recuse themselves from performing gay wedding ceremonies or issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

On Wednesday, the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the case filed by three couples, saying the lawsuit lacked legal standing because the law had not harmed the complainants.

The three-judge panel had argued that the complainants failed to prove personal harm because they have either already married their partner or are about to do so without any claim of obstruction.

"The outcome here is in no way a comment on same-sex marriage as a matter of social policy. The case before us is far more technical — whether plaintiffs, simply by virtue of their status as state taxpayers, have alleged a personal, particularized injury for the purposes of Article III standing," Circuit Court Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III wrote. "Based on a century of Supreme Court precedent, we conclude that they have not," he added.

Under the law, magistrates who file recusals are required to make other officials available to perform their duties. The plaintiffs argued that the law penalized them because taxpayer money is used to cover the travel expenses of magistrates.

The Christian Post reported that two of the plaintiffs were from McDowell County where all magistrates opted out of conducting same-sex weddings. The recusals forced magistrates from nearby Rutherford County to travel to McDowell to perform the marriages.

State Sen. Phil Berger, who introduced the SB 2 in 2015 to allow magistrates to recuse themselves from officiating same-sex weddings, hailed Wednesday's court decision.

"Once again, a federal court has rejected the idea that exercising one's First Amendment religious freedoms somehow infringes on others' rights," the senator said.

Berger's bill came with the condition that the individual who opted out of performing same-sex weddings remove themselves from the marriage business altogether.

According to Christian News Network, then-governor Pat McCrory vetoed the measure, but a majority vote subsequently overruled his veto.

Prior to the passage of the legislation, several North Carolina magistrates were forced to resign from their post because they could not, in good conscience, perform same-sex weddings.

In 2015, two magistrates sued the state's Administrative Office of the Courts, alleging that they were pressured to perform same-sex wedding ceremonies or face discipline. The magistrates also claimed that John Smith, the office's director, made no effort to accommodate their religious convictions.