Resource: General Synod of the United Church of Christ v. Cooper*; Consolidated with Fisher-Borne v. Smith and Gerber v. Cooper

Filed 4/28/14. Includes free exercise of religion and expressive association claims on behalf of church and clergy plaintiffs, as well as due process and equal protection claims on behalf of same-sex couple plaintiffs. Plaintiffs simultaneously filed a motion or a preliminary injunction. On 5/27/14, Defendants filed a motion to stay pending the 4th Circuit’s decision in Bostic v. Schaefer. On 6/3/14, plaintiffs filed an amended complaint. On 6/10/14, defendants filed responses to the motion for a preliminary injunction. On 6/13/14, plaintiffs filed an opposition to the motion for a stay. On 6/20/14, plaintiffs filed their reply brief on their motion for a preliminary injunction. On 6/24/24, defendants filed their reply in support of their motion for a stay. On 7/1/14, plaintiffs filed a request for oral argument of the preliminary injunction and stay motions. On 7/18/14, defendants filed a response in opposition to the motion for oral argument. On 8/12/14, the court stayed this case. On 8/25/14, the court issued a further order staying the proceedings pending the Supreme Court’s disposition of the cert. petition in Bostic. On 9/8/14, plaintiffs filed a motion to lift the stay. On 9/24/14 and 9/26/14, defendants filed responses to this motion; replies to these responses were filed 10/6/14. On 10/10/14, the court granted plaintiffs’ motion, ruling that North Carolina’s ban on marriage by same-sex couples is unconstitutional, and enjoining its enforcement. Same-sex couples may now marry in the state. The appeal by Thigpen and Tillis was docketed 11/10/15. The appeal was been consolidated with Fisher-Borne and Gerber cases on 12/10/14. (See entries for that case, which applies equally to this case.)