WILLIAM L. OSTEEN, JR., District Judge.
Plaintiffs in each of these cases have filed complaints alleging causes of action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 challenging the constitutionality of North Carolina's laws preventing same-sex couples from marrying and prohibiting recognition of same-sex couples' lawful out-of-state marriages. (1:12CV589 (Doc. 40); 1:14CV299 (Doc. 1).) As to each of these cases, an order was entered dismissing the North Carolina Attorney General as a defendant and allowing the State of North Carolina to intervene and appear by and through the Attorney General as counsel of record. (1:12CV589 (Doc. 114); 1:14CV299 (Doc. 71).) An Answer has been filed by Defendants in both cases and on behalf of the
In addition to the pleadings described above, Thom Tillis, Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, and Phil Berger, President Pro Tempore of the North Carolina Senate, filed motions to intervene (1:12CV589 (Doc. 119); 1:14CV299 (Doc. 75)) and those motions have been granted on the conditions set forth in that order. (1:12CV589 (Doc. 134); 1:14CV299 (Doc. 90).)
The pleadings indicate that Plaintiffs in each of these cases has standing to bring these claims. This court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331 (federal question) and § 1343(a)(3)(deprivation under State law of any right secured by the Constitution). Pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(b)(6), all allegations not denied are deemed admitted.
In light of briefs and representations of the parties (1:12CV589 (Docs. 103, 104, 105, 106, 112, 113); 1:14CV299 (Docs. 56, 57, 58, 59, 67, 68)), those matters admitted by the State of North Carolina in its Answers, and the holding of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Bostic v. Schaefer, 760 F.3d 352 (4th Cir.2014), this court finds that the relief requested by Plaintiffs in each of these cases should be granted with respect to those matters now ripe for ruling.
Bostic addressed Virginia law and a Virginia constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriages and making same sex marriages invalid. Id. Most importantly here, the Virginia constitutional amendment addressed in Bostic stated "[t]hat only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage valid in or recognized by this Commonwealth and its political subdivisions." Id. at 368 (quoting Va. Const. art. I, § 15-A). The Fourth Circuit held in Bostic that "we conclude that the Virginia Marriage Laws violate the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the extent that they prevent same-sex couples from marrying and prohibit Virginia from recognizing same-sex couples' lawful out-of-state marriages." Bostic, 760 F.3d at 384. The Supreme Court of the United States recently denied certiorari, Rainey v. Bostic, No. 14-153, ___ U.S. ___, 135 S.Ct. 286, ___ L.Ed.2d ___, 2014 WL 3924685 (U.S. Oct. 6, 2014), and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has issued its mandate. Bostic v. Schaefer, Nos. 14-1167, 14-1169, 14-1173, 2014 WL 4960335 (4th Cir. Oct. 6, 2014).
A decision by a circuit court is binding on this court. See Allegheny Gen. Hosp. v. NLRB, 608 F.2d 965, 970 (3rd Cir.1979) ("A decision by this court, not overruled by the United States Supreme Court, is a decision of the court of last resort in this federal judicial circuit."); United States v. Brown, 74 F.Supp.2d 648, 652 (N.D.W.Va.1998) ("[A] district court is bound by the precedent set by its Circuit Court of Appeals, until such precedent is overruled by the appellate court or the United States Supreme Court."). As recognized by another court in this district:
Addison v. Piedmont Aviation, Inc., 745 F.Supp. 343, 349 (M.D.N.C.1990) (quoting 1B Moore's Federal Practice ¶ 0.402[2] at 25-27). See also Alexander v. City of Greensboro, No. 1:09-CV-934, 2011 WL 13857, at *5 n. 5 (M.D.N.C. Jan. 4, 2011); Baldwin v. City of Winston-Salem, 544 F.Supp. 123, 124 (1982), aff'd, 710 F.2d 132 (4th Cir.1983).
This court has independently reviewed the relevant statutes and state constitutional amendments under both Virginia and North Carolina law. As stated by all parties, including the State of North Carolina, this court finds no substantive distinction between the North Carolina statutes and constitutional amendment and the statutory and constitutional provisions addressed in Bostic v. Schaefer. North Carolina Const, art. XIV, § 6 provides, almost identically to the Virginia constitutional amendment, that "marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State."
As required by the Fourth Circuit's precedent in Bostic, by and with the agreement of Defendants in these cases,
A judgment shall be entered contemporaneously with this Order.