Judge throws out suit over N.C. magistrate protections

A federal judge in Asheville has thrown out a lawsuit filed by three couples against a North Carolina law protecting magistrates from being forced to issue marriage certificates to same-sex couples.

U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn ruled the couples who sued, two homosexual and one interracial, hadn’t shown they suffered harm under the law, which took effect in June 2015. Without demonstrated harm, the couples lacked standing to sue, Cogburn ruled.

But he said the law had the potential for discrimination, leaving the door open for a future suit.

The couples plan to appeal Cogburn’s decision to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

North Carolina lawmakers adopted the bill—over a veto from Gov. Pat McCrory—to protect magistrates who don’t want to participate in same-sex marriages because of their sincere religious beliefs. Under the law, magistrates who seek an exemption must recuse themselves from issuing marriage certificates for both heterosexual and homosexual couples for at least six months.

Only about 5 percent of North Carolina’s 670 magistrates asked for exemptions. At the end of last year, when the plaintiffs filed their lawsuit, the exemption provision had not prevented any couples from obtaining marriage certificates in the state.