Mosman lifts injunction on domestic partnerships

US District Court Judge Michael Mosman lifted an injunction on Oregon's new domestic partnerships law yesterday. This clears the way for same-sex couples to begin registering with the as Domestic Partners with the State of Oregon, providing to same sex couples many of the rights and privileges that accrue to married couples.

The Oregonian notes that the court was not considering the merits of the issue at stake, but instead turned on a constitutional question about Oregon's initiative process:

"Today's hearing is almost completely and solely about Oregon's referendum process," Mosman said at the start of the daylong hearing. "That's the issue."

The five-hour hearing subjected the signature-verification process to an unprecedented level of scrutiny.

But in the end, Mosman said it passed the test.

"The state has done what it can here," he said.

The judge was deciding whether the State has an obligation to provide a remedy for Oregon voters whose names were wrongly excluded because their signature card was not deemed to be a match.

Opponents of Oregon's new domestic partnerships law brought the suit when they discovered that 4 "super-electors", people whose names were invalidated by the Secretary of State's random sampling model were wrongly excluded, putting them below the total number of needed signatures.

Oregon is now the 11th state to recognize some form of domestic partnerships or civil unions. 2 states, Massachusetts and Iowa both recognize same-sex marriage.