NY State Appeals Court Rules Against Liberty Counsel’s Challenge To New York’s Same-Sex Marriage Law

A New York State appeals court rejected a challenge to New York’s year-old same-sex  marriage law brought by the anti-gay New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms and Matt Staver’s Liberty Counsel on Friday.

Grasping at straws, Liberty Council lawyers argued that Republican state senators violated New York’s open meeting rules  ahead of the law’s passage last year when Governor Cuomo, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and another gay marriage  supporter,  met behind closed doors with  the Senate’s Republican majority in violation of the open meeting law.

New York’s open meeting law requires public access to the deliberations of  legislative bodies.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman argued that the Republican caucus with invited guests was exempt, even if the guests aren’t  in the same party

The New York State appeals court agreed with Schneiderman in a 5-0 ruling.

“In the event that we were to adopt plaintiffs’ limited definition of ‘guests,’  it would be impossible for a Democratic member of a governor’s office, such as a  budget director, to speak to a majority Republican caucus,” according to the  decision

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, called  the decision “a great victory for marriage equality.”

“It’s a disappointment, because this gives a green light to the politicians to  (use) strong arm tactics behind closed doors and shut out the people from the  process,” stated Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel.

The Liberty Counsel is expected to  appeal the ruling. (Of course.)