On Feb. 6, 2014, United States District Judge Gary A. Fenner declared unconstitutional Missouri’s statutory requirement that marriage license applicants appear in person before the Recorder of Deeds.
The court ruled that the “fundamental right to marry is protected by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment” and that the statutory requirement “significantly interferes with the exercise of a fundamental right.” The statute was declared unconstitutional as applied to persons who are physically unable to appear before the recorder of deeds.