IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA

MARCIE FISHER-BORNE, for )
herself and as guardian ad )
litem for M.F.-B., a minor, )
et al., )
)
Plaintiffs, )
)
v. ) 1:12CV589
)
JOHN W. SMITH, in his official )
Capacity as the Director of the )
North Carolina Administrative )
Office of the Courts, et al., )
)
Defendants. )
________________________________ )_______________________________
)
ELLEN W. GERBER, et al., )
)
Plaintiffs, )
)
v. ) 1:14CV299
)
ROY COOPER, et al., )
)
Defendants. )


ORDER

OSTEEN, JR., District Judge

Presently before this court is a motion to intervene by two
parties, Thom Tillis, Speaker of the North Carolina
House of Representatives, and Phil Berger, President Pro Tempore
of the North Carolina Senate (collectively Movants).
(1:12CV589 (Doc. 119); 1:14CV299 (Doc. 75).) In light of the
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positions of the parties and the procedural posture of this
case, this court finds no just reason for delay with respect to
this ruling. After considering their entitlement to
intervention as of right or, alternatively, permissive
intervention, this court grants the parties Motion to Intervene
on the limited terms set forth herein.
I. INTERVENTION AS OF RIGHT
In order to intervene as of right under Rule 24(a)(2) of
the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a party must (1) make a
timely motion to intervene, (2) have an interest in the subject
of the action, (3) be so situated that the disposition of the
action may . . . impair or impede the applicant's ability to
protect that interest, and (4) show that he is not adequately
represented by existing parties. Fed. R. Civ. P. 24(a)(2);
Wright v. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc., 231 F.R.D. 475, 477
(M.D.N.C. 2005).
This court finds the motion to intervene is timely. In
determining whether a motion to intervene is sufficiently
timely, this court must weigh how far the suit has progressed,
the prejudice any resulting delay may cause the other parties,
and why the movant was tardy in filing its motion. Alt v.
United States Envtl. Prot. Agency, 758 F.3d 588, 591 (4th Cir.
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2014). The cases in which Movants hope to intervene have been in
front of this court for several months and over two years,
respectively. Nonetheless, Defendants in both cases have only
recently filed Answers, and more importantly, Movants sought to
intervene within three days of the Supreme Court denying
certiorari in Bostic v. Schaefer. See Schaefer v. Bostic, No.
14-251, 2014 WL 4354536 (U.S. Oct. 6, 2014) (denying certiorari
in Bostic v. Schaefer, 760 F.3d 352 (4th Cir. 2014)). It was
only after the Supreme Court denied the petition in Bostic that
Defendants began to concede relief, arguably resulting in
Movants heightened concern with defense of the North Carolina
law. In light of the limited nature of the intervention which
will be allowed, the intervention will not substantially delay
these proceedings. Therefore, Movants have established that
their motion is timely.
Second, this court agrees with Movants that their interest
is sufficient in these cases to support intervention. Movants
interest must be significantly protectable to come within the
meaning of Rule 24(a)(2), meaning that the interest must be more
than a general concern with the subject matter. See Donaldson
v. United States, 400 U.S. 517, 531 (1971). Despite the
recognition that general concerns are not significantly
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protectable, the Supreme Court has held that certain public
concerns may constitute an adequate interest within the
meaning of [Rule 24(a)(2)]. Diamond v. Charles, 476 U.S. 54,
68 (1986) (citing Cascade Natural Gas Corp. v. El Paso Natural
Gas Co., 386 U.S. 129, 135 (1967)).
Courts have recognized that legislators have an interest in
defending the constitutionality of legislation passed by the
legislature when the executive declines to do so, even when a
taxpayer may not have a protectable interest in making the same
argument. See, e.g., Revelis v. Napolitano, 844 F. Supp. 2d
915, 924-25 (N.D. Ill. 2012). Similar to the facts in this
case, in Revelis, a select group of congressional leaders was
authorized by the United States House of Representatives to
defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act
(DOMA) after Attorney General Eric Holder declared his
intention not to defend DOMA in subsequent legal challenges. Id.
The Revelis court found that the legislators interest was
sufficient to justify intervention as of right. In North
Carolina, the General Assembly provides a similar mechanism
through which the Speaker of the House and President Pro Tempore
of the Senate may defend laws passed by the North Carolina
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General Assembly. See N.C. Gen. Stat. 1-72.2. Movants are in
front of this court based on rights conferred by that statute.
In determining Movants interest, of particular
significance to this court is the fact that the issues raised in
Bostic and this litigation are not solely same-sex marriage, but
include issues with respect to the constitutional relationship
between the judiciary, the duly-elected state representatives,
and to the vote of the people in a democratic process. That
issue is recognized by the dissenting opinions in Bostic and
Kitchen. The dissent in Bostic concludes:
The U.S. Constitution does not, in my judgment,
restrict the States policy choices on this issue. If
given the choice, some states will surely recognize
same-sex marriage and some will surely not. But that
is, to be sure, the beauty of federalism.

Bostic, 760 F.3d at 398 (Niemeyer, J., dissenting).
Similarly, the dissent in Kitchen concludes:
Though the Plaintiffs would weigh the interests of the
state differently and discount the procreation, child-
rearing, and caution rationales, that prerogative
belongs to the electorate and their representatives.

Kitchen v. Herbert, 755 F.3d 1193, 1240 (10th Cir. 2014) (Kelly,
J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). As certain as
it is that Plaintiffs have the right to advocate for what they
believe is just for the individual parties, others may also have
a substantial interest in defending that which they believe to
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be a power and prerogative that belongs to the States, the
citizens, and their duly-elected representatives.
Accordingly, this court finds that, as authorized
representatives of the legislature, Movants desire to defend
the constitutionality of legislation passed by the legislature
is a protectable interest in the subject matter of this
litigation.
The third factor requires this court to determine whether
the Movants are so situated that the disposition of the action
. . . may impair or impede the applicants ability to protect
that interest. In this case, the interest identified by
Movants is affected by the Fourth Circuits decision in Bostic,
which is the law of the circuit and binding on this lower court
in light of the denial of certiorari. The potential for
impairment in this district court is neither heightened nor
lowered by Movants participation or non-participation in light
of representation being afforded that interest by North
Carolinas Attorney General, as more fully discussed infra.
However, also as more fully discussed infra, preserving the
right to appeal this decision does have a direct effect on the
Movants ability to protect their interest.
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Finally, and critically, Movants must show that they are
not adequately represented by an existing party. Representation
is generally considered adequate if no collusion is shown
between the representative and an opposing party, if the
representative does not represent an interest adverse to the
proposed intervenor and if the representative has been diligent
in prosecuting the litigation. Delaware Valley Citizens'
Council for Clean Air v. Pennsylvania, 674 F.2d 970, 973 (3d
Cir. 1982).
In both cases before this court, the State Defendants are
represented by the North Carolina Attorney Generals Office.
Under North Carolina law, it is the duty of the Attorney
General:
To defend all actions in the appellate division in
which the State shall be interested, or a party, and
to appear for the State in any other court or tribunal
in any cause or matter, civil or criminal, in which
the State may be a party or interested.

N.C. Gen. Stat. 114-2(1).
In their motion to intervene, Movants make no claims of
collusion between the Attorney General and an opposing party nor
do they claim an adverse interest. Movants claim inadequate
representation in part because the Attorney General did not plan
to distinguish Bostic on the grounds that outcome-determinative
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concessions made by the Attorney General of Virginia in that
case have not been made by North Carolina in these cases.
(Proposed Defendant-Intervenors Mem. of Law in Supp. of Mot.
for Intervention (Intervenors Mem.) 1:12CV589 (Doc. 120) at
15; 1:14CV299 (Doc. 76) at 15.) The North Carolina statutory
and constitutional provisions at issue in the cases before this
court are notably similar to the Virginia statutory and
constitutional provisions deemed unconstitutional in Bostic. See
Bostic, 760 F.3d at 367 n.1. As a result, Bostic is binding
precedent on this court.
[T]he doctrine of stare decisis makes a decision on a
point of law in one case a binding precedent in future
cases in the same court, and such courts as owe
obedience to the decision, until such time as the
effect of the decision is nullified in some fashion:
reversed, vacated, or disapproved by a superior court,
overruled by the court that made it, or rendered
irrelevant by changes in the positive law.

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 2527.). Although Movants make allegations with respect to
the process pursuant to which Bostic was decided, those
allegations do not present a substantial justification pursuant
to which this court may disregard Bostic.
The First Circuit has noted that there may be occasions
when courts canand shouldloosen the iron grip of stare
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decisis. United States v. Reveron Martinez, 836 F.2d 684, 687,
n.2 (1st Cir. 1988). However, any such departure demands
special justification. Arizona v. Rumsey, 467 U.S. 203, 212
(1984). Eulitt v. Maine Dep't of Educ., 307 F. Supp. 2d 158,
161 (D. Me. 2004), aff'd on other grounds sub nom. Eulitt ex
rel. Eulitt v. Maine, Dep't of Educ., 386 F.3d 344 (1st Cir.
2004). Special justification arises if a district court had
been faced with a different set of facts and newly crafted
set of legal rules and therefore, the issue was one of first
impression for the Circuit. Id. at 161 (citing Gately v.
Massachusetts, 2 F.3d 1221, 1228 (1st Cir. 1993)). As stated
earlier, the facts and law are virtually indistinguishable
between Bostic and the cases before this court. The Court of
Appeals for the Fourth Circuit can overrule Bostic, but absent
special justification, which is not present here, this court
cannot.
Furthermore, the record before this court indicates that
the Attorney General has in fact vigorously pursued North
Carolinas defense of the laws challenged in this action prior
to the decision in Bostic. In opposing Plaintiffs motion for a
preliminary injunction, Defendants filed extensive briefs and
made compelling arguments in those briefs. (See, e.g., State
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Defs. Resp. in Oppn to Movants Mot. for Prelim. Inj.
1:12CV589 (Doc. 88) at 6-10; 1:14CV299 (Doc. 33) at 6-10; State
Defs. Mem. of Law in Supp. of Mot. to Dismiss Complaint
(Defs. Mem.) 1:12CV589 (Doc. 28) at 8-13; 1:14CV299 (Doc. 38)
at 8-13.) It appears that each of those briefs appropriately
presented and argued the same issues upon which all of the
relevant cases relied, including but not limited to, United
States v. Windsor, 570 U.S. ____, 133 S. Ct. 2675 (2013);
Washington v. Glucksberg, 521 U.S. 702 (1997); and Baker v.
Nelson, 409 U.S. 810 (1972). The fact that Bostic has resolved
these issues as a matter of law contrary to the States position
does not diminish the quality of the arguments advanced by the
State Defendants.
Movants, whether intending directly or by implication, make
a further suggestion with respect to the recent concessions by
the State Defendants in their answer. Movants open their brief
as follows:
In part based on concessions made by the Attorney
General of Virginia after he switched sides in the
Bostic case, the Fourth Circuit ruled that Virginias
marriage laws were unconstitutional, and on October 6,
2014, the Supreme Court denied the three petitions for
writ of certiorari that had been filed in the case.
Rainey v. Bostic, 2014 WL 3924685 (U.S., Oct. 06,
2014); Schaefer v. Bostic, 2014 WL 4230092 (U.S., Oct.
06, 2014); and McQuigg v. Bostic, 2014 WL 4354536
(U.S., Oct. 06, 2014). On the same day that the ruling
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in Bostic was issued by the Fourth Circuit, the
Attorney General of North Carolina a named defendant
and also counsel for the other state defendants in
these cases announced that he would stop making
arguments in defense of North Carolinas marriage
laws and that the State of North Carolina will not
oppose the case moving forward. Press Conference of
Attorney General Roy Cooper, July 28, 2014, available
at http://www.wral.com/
news/state/nccapitol/video/13846923/.

(Intervenors Mem. 1:12CV589 (Doc. 120) at 6-7; 1:14CV299
(Doc. 76) at 6-7.)
1

The suggestion, at least in this courts opinion, is that
Bostic was wrongly decided because the Virginia attorney general
improperly conceded important points of law; the structure of
the paragraph appears to further imply that North Carolinas
Attorney General is now following a similar path of improperly
conceding important points of law. This court disagrees with
that implication and is not persuaded that the Attorney General
has inadequately represented Movants interests thus far.
First, it is important to note here that the North Carolina
Attorney Generals concession came only after Bostic became
final. Prior to that time, the North Carolina Attorney General
defended the relevant laws. The Attorney Generals argument in

1
All citations in this Order to documents filed with the
court refer to the page numbers located at the bottom right-hand
corner of the documents as they appear on CM/ECF.
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support of the motion to dismiss relied upon Baker v. Nelson,
409 U.S. 810 (1972) (see Defs. Mem. 1:14CV299 (Doc. 38) at 10),
contrary to Movants description of the alleged position of the
Virginia Attorney General in Bostic (see Intervenors Mem.
1:12CV589 (Doc. 120) at 15; 1:14CV299 (Doc. 76) at 15). In this
case, the North Carolina Attorney General also cited and relied
upon Washington v. Glucksberg, 521 U.S. 702 (1997), as well as a
number of other cases in support of the State of North
Carolinas motion to dismiss (see 1:14CV299, Defs. Mem. (Doc.
38) at 11), contrary to Movants allegations as to the Virginia
Attorney General. Thus, here, unlike Movants contend as to
Virginia, the Attorney General did assert the defenses which
perhaps Virginia did not.
Second, Movants challenge to the manner in which the
Virginia Attorney General may have argued Bostic fails to
recognize the independence of the United States Court of Appeals
for the Fourth Circuit and the fact that the Virginia Attorney
General was not the only party defending Virginias ban. The
identification of counsel in Bostic, as appearing in the
published opinion, lists a multitude of counsel appearing in
various capacities. Counsel for Movants (John C. Eastman,
Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, Chapman University
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Dale E. Fowler School of Law) is listed as appearing on behalf
of Amici Virginia Catholic Conference, LLC, and the Center for
Constitutional Jurisprudence. The lengthy list of parties and
counsel in Bostic suggests to this court that Movants argument
focusing on one party, as opposed to all of the Virginia bans
defenders, does not in any way undermine the decision itself nor
does it suggest this court should find any circumstance upon
which to disregard Bostic.
Movants, as directed by this court, have filed Defendants-
Intervenors Answer and Defenses (Intervenors Answer)
(1:12CV589 (Doc. 125); 1:14CV299 (Doc. 81)). Movants raise
several objections and defenses, including an argument that this
court does not have subject-matter jurisdiction as dictated by
Baker v. Nelson, 409 U.S. 810 (1972). Movants suggest
consideration of a district court opinion that recently upheld a
state marriage law, Robicheaux v. Caldwell, 2 F. Supp. 3d 910
(E.D. La. 2014). Movants also cite a recent order from a
Supreme Court Justice staying a Ninth Circuit decision
invalidating Idahos marriage law after subjecting it to strict
scrutiny. (Intervenors Answer 1:12CV589 (Doc. 125) at 7;
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1:14CV299 (Doc. 81) at 7) (citing Otter v. Latta, No. 14A374,
2014 WL 4996356, at *1 (U.S. Oct. 8, 2014) (Kennedy, J.).)
2

Baker v. Nelson was specifically addressed and ruled upon
by the Fourth Circuit in Bostic. Bostic, 760 F.3d at 372-76.
Robicheaux v. Caldwell, addressed elsewhere in this opinion, may
be persuasive authority but it does not constitute binding
authority. As a result, this court finds that Movants
allegations do not persuade this court that Bostic is not
controlling at present, nor does it persuade this court that
Movants interests have not been adequately represented.
The issue of preservation of appeal and the implication for
a claim of inadequate representation is a more difficult
question. In other words, whether Movants claimed interest,
objecting to application of Bostic and appealing to higher
courts, is an interest which may support intervention. Movants
argue:
In the event that this Court determines that Bostic
nevertheless controls these North Carolina cases,
Proposed Defendant-Intervenors will seek to preserve
the issue of the constitutionality of North Carolinas
marriage laws for purposes of appeal to the Fourth
Circuit, the Fourth Circuit sitting en banc, and
ultimately to the Supreme Court if necessary.


2
The application to stay was subsequently denied by the
United States Supreme Court on October, 10, 2014.
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(Intervenors Mem. 1:12CV589 (Doc. 120) at 7-8; 1:14CV299 (Doc.
76) at 7-8.)
This court requested responses to this argument from
Plaintiffs and the North Carolina Attorney General. (See
1:12CV589 (Doc. 127); 1:14CV299 (Doc. 83).) Those responses
were timely filed. In his response, the Attorney General cites
General Synod of the United Church of Christ v. Cooper, No.
3:14-CV-213 (W.D.N.C. October 10, 2014), and alleges that
[a]lthough the right to any appeal has not been waived, the
binding opinion of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Bostic
addressed and rejected viable defenses of North Carolinas
marriage laws. (See 1:12CV589 (Doc. 132) at 4; 1:14CV299 (Doc.
87) at 4.) This court construes the Attorney Generals response
to suggest that perhaps the State does not intend to appeal
because of the conclusive nature of the Bostic decision in the
circuit court and the Supreme Court. However, that response,
without further analysis of the waiver issue particularly in
light of the supplemental briefs, does not fully address whether
Movants have an interest in preserving the right to appeal and
whether those rights will be impaired if intervention is not
permitted.
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Plaintiffs have also responded to this courts inquiry; the
following is their summary of that response:
More specifically and in response to the Courts
questions regarding the Intervention Motion, the
Attorney General has not waived his rights to appeal
to the Fourth Circuit or to the United States Supreme
Court. Instead, in the reasonable exercise of
litigation judgment (presumably based, at least in
part, on the unanimous view of each of the four courts
of appeals which have found discriminatory marriage
laws to be unconstitutional), the Attorney General
presently has chosen not to waste the states limited
resources on pursuing what would ultimately be a
futile appeal. Putative Intervenors cannot demonstrate
that such an exercise of litigation judgment
constitutes inadequate representation, especially
given the high degree of deference afforded in
particular to the litigation judgment of states
attorneys general.

(Pls. Resp. to Courts Oct. 10 Order (Pls. Resp.) 1:12CV589
(Doc. 131) at 8-9; 1:14CV299 (Doc. 88) at 8-9.) Plaintiffs cite
two circuit cases in support of their argument that the State
has not waived its right to appeal, United States v. Evans, 404
F.3d 227, 236 (4th Cir. 2005) and Wells v. Shriners Hosp., 109
F.3d 198, 199 (4th Cir. 1997). (Id. at 14.) However, neither
of these cases directly addresses the factual and procedural
history present in either of these cases, wherein initial
objections to the requested relief were followed by concessions
(albeit legally defensible concessions) to the requested relief.
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This court called for supplemental briefs from the parties
because of the express language of the State Defendants
concession of relief. That language, quite properly recognizing
applicable law, states that Plaintiffs should be afforded
appropriate relief in accordance with the law as described by
the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Bostic v. Schaefer.
(State Defs. Answer and Defenses 1:12CV589 (Doc. 104) at 16;
1:14CV299 (Doc. 70) at 16).) Movants proposed answer, on the
other hand, objects to the application of Bostic, arguably
expressly preserving an objection to that opinion. Because the
judicial power of federal courts is constitutionally restricted
to cases' and controversies, Flast v. Cohen, 392 U.S. 83, 94
(1968), this court was uncertain that a case or controversy
between the parties would still exist as suggested by Movants
once this court grants the requested relief. [B]ecause [t]his
case-or-controversy requirement subsists through all stages of
federal judicial proceedings, trial and appellate, [l]itigation
may become moot during the pendency of an appeal. United
States v. Hardy, 545 F.3d 280, 283 (4th Cir. 2008) (alteration
in original) (internal quotations marks omitted) (citations
omitted).
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Both parties in this case cite this court to the well-
reasoned opinion from the Western District of North Carolina
addressing similar issues in that case. See General Synod, No.
3:14-CV-213 (W.D.N.C. Oct. 10, 2014). This court agrees with
the holding of the General Synod court, and with respect to the
waiver issue, finds it compelling. See id. (Doc. 121) at 5
([T]he court has considered proposed intervenors argument that
the Attorney General has improperly given up the right to appeal
this courts final decision; however, the court does not read
the pleadings that broadly.). Although this court is not
sufficiently familiar with the underlying pleadings in General
Synod to fully determine the applicability of the holding to
this case, the pleadings in this case may very well be
sufficient to preserve that right as recognized in General
Synod. See, e.g., Singleton v. Wulff, 428 U.S. 106, 121 (1976)
(The matter of what questions may be taken up and resolved for
the first time on appeal is one left primarily to the discretion
of the courts of appeals, to be exercised on the facts of
individual cases.). However, in light of the supplemental
briefs filed in this case and the presence of what appears to be
a recognition by all parties that the State does not intend to
appeal, this court is confronted with an additional issue that
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was not presented by the State and the plaintiffs to the court
in General Synod. As a result, this court does not find it
necessary to resolve the question of whether an appeal has been
waived in light of the additional findings hereinafter.
Plaintiffs argue that the Attorney Generals decision not
to pursue a wasteful and futile appeal amounts to mere
disagreement over how to approach the conduct of the litigation
[and] is not enough to rebut the presumption of adequacy.
Stuart, 706 F.3d at 353; see also id. at 354. (Pls. Resp.
1:12CV589 (Doc. 131) at 19; 1:14CV299 (Doc. 88) at 19.) Perhaps
so. However, in terms of the pending motion to intervene, it
may also suggest that Movants are not adequately represented by
existing parties, see Fed. R. Civ. P. 24(a)(2); Wright v. Krispy
Kreme Doughnuts, Inc., 231 F.R.D. 475, 477 (M.D.N.C. 2005), to
the extent Movants intend to exercise whatever remaining right
to appeal exists and the Attorney General has concluded the
State does not. In allowing intervention in the context of an
injunction prohibiting a religious group from displaying a
menorah on city property and the city not appealing the
decision, the Sixth Circuit found that the decision not to
appeal by an original party to the action can constitute
inadequate representation of another party's interest.
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Ams. United for Separation of Church & State v. City of Grand
Rapids, 922 F.2d 303, 306 (6th Cir. 1990); see also H.L. Hayden
Co. of New York v. Siemens Med. Sys., Inc., 797 F.2d 85, 88 (2nd
Cir. 1986) (noting, in dicta, [w]here issues relating to the
appellate process create a divergence of interests between the
party representing the would-be intervenor's interest and the
would-be intervenor, intervention for the purpose of protecting
the latter's appellate rights may be appropriate).
In United States v. American Telephone & Telegraph Co., the
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit framed the
issue as follows: The decisive question, then, is whether a
divergence of interests solely at the appeal stage can justify
intervention for the limited purpose of taking an appeal from a
lower court ruling. Commentators cite cases going either way on
this question, depending on the particular facts. United
States v. Am. Tel. & Tel. Co., 642 F.2d 1285, 1293 (D.C. Cir.
1980). The District of Columbia Circuit concluded that [u[nder
Smuck v. Hobson this divergence of interests, manifested in the
Governments refusal to appeal, is evidence of inadequate
representation. Id. at 1294.
As recognized by the Court of Appeals for the Sixth
Circuit:
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[A] decision not to appeal by an original party to the
action can constitute inadequate representation of
another party's interest. The Secretary of State has
not sought interlocutory review of the preliminary
injunction as it relates to two of the three
temporarily invalidated provisions, and Michigan's
attorney general has not appealed at all. While
passively tolerating a preliminary injunction pending
a final resolution of the merits may serve the
interests of the State of Michigan, it cannot be said
to represent the Chamber's interests, in view of its
concern with timeliness. The decision not to appeal
certain aspects of the district court's preliminary
injunction may amount to sound litigation strategy and
a prudent allocation of Michigan taxpayers' money, but
this decision also further illustrates how the
interests of the state and of the Chamber diverge. The
State of Michigan has already demonstrated that it
will not adequately represent and protect the
interests held by the Chamber. Accordingly, the
Chamber has made a sufficient showing in this regard.

Michigan State AFL-CIO v. Miller, 103 F.3d 1240, 1248 (6th Cir.
1997) (internal quotation marks omitted) (citing Ams. United,
922 F.2d at 306).
Plaintiffs argue this issue is settled and that an appeal
is meritless. (Pls. Resp. 1:12CV589 (Doc. 131) at 15;
1:14CV299 (Doc. 88) at 15 (Bostic unequivocally held that
Virginias constitutional and statutory prohibition of same-sex
marriage in Virginia . . . violates the Due Process and Equal
Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United
States Constitution; there is no argument that this analysis
would not apply to North Carolinas constitutional and statutory
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prohibition of same-sex marriage.).) Plaintiff is correct;
Bostic resolved the matter in this district court. However,
there is still some disagreement between some judges and courts
on issues relevant to these cases. The rulings in Bostic and
Kitchen, as thoughtful as they are, contain dissenting opinions
that also employ careful reasoning and thoughtful analysis on
the constitutional issues, including whether strict scrutiny or
rational basis review applies and how the courts should weigh
the various policy considerations and arguments. In Robicheaux
v. Caldwell, 2 F. Supp. 3d 910 (E.D. La. 2014), a district court
upheld Louisianas same-sex marriage ban in a well-reasoned
opinion, concluding in part that Louisianas laws are
rationally related to its legitimate state interests. Id. In
Deboer v. Snyder, 973 F. Supp. 2d 757 (E.D. Mich. 2014), a
district court in Michigan struck down Michigans same-sex
marriage ban, but did so pursuant to a rational basis test
without reaching the question of whether strict scrutiny
applies. This court does not suggest either position, to appeal
or not to appeal, as substantively meritorious, only that the
existence of any continuing right may be complicated by whatever
continuing force any remaining cases might have as well as
applicable jurisdictional and jurisprudential requirements.
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Nevertheless, notwithstanding some of the ongoing cases on
a national level, this discussion is merely academic in this
court. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth
Circuit has issued its ruling in Bostic. As recognized by the
district court in General Synod, this district court, sitting in
North Carolina and the Fourth Circuit, is bound to apply that
law. The parties to this case have the right to expect nothing
less, whether they agree with the law or not. The issue
presently before this court is solely whether to permit
intervention for the purpose of preserving and taking an appeal.
Although it is a very close issue, this court concludes
that the motion to intervene should be granted, but only for the
purpose of lodging an objection and preserving that objection to
this courts application of Bostic. In reaching this
conclusion, this court is not expressing an opinion on the
relative merits or demerits of any appeal, only that there is an
appeal right that a party with arguable standing and interest
has sought to preserve.
Intervention will be substantially limited in this court.
Specifically, this court will order the filing of the proposed
answer (1:12CV589 (Doc. 125); 1:14CV299 (Doc. 81)) setting forth
the answer and objections in this case. In light of the clear
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import of Bostic, no further briefing will be permitted with
respect to the pending Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings
(1:12CV589 (Doc. 116); 1:14CV299 (Doc. 72)) and the response
filed by the State of North Carolina (1:12CV589 (Doc. 122);
1:14CV299 (Doc. 78)). Both the motion and response accurately
state the law of this circuit, and no further pleadings from
Movants will be permitted.
III. CONCLUSION
In conclusion, this court finds that Movants motion to
intervene should be allowed, but only for the limited purposes
expressed herein.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the Motion for Intervention
(1:12CV589 (Doc. 75); 1:14CV299 (Doc. 119)) is GRANTED for the
limited purposes expressed herein.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Movants answers and defenses in
each of these two cases are deemed TIMELY FILED.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Movants objections to this
courts jurisdiction, to the application of Bostic, and to the
grant of the pending motion for judgment on the pleadings are
NOTED and OVERRULED.

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This the 14th day of October, 2014.



_______________________________________
United States District Judge


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