U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit

A lawsuit challenging a Puerto Rico law defining marriage as between a man and a woman has been put on hold pending a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Secretary of Justice César Miranda said he will submit a brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, saying he agrees the ban is unconstitutional and should be lifted.

The U.S. island territory’s ban is being challenged in a federal appeals court and the governor, named as a defendant, has until Friday to respond to a federal appeals court in Boston.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit on Tuesday issued a briefing schedule in the appeal of a federal judge’s ruling that upheld Puerto Rico’s same-sex marriage ban.

A federal appeals court has rejected a petition by anti-gay activist Scott Lively to dismiss a complaint that alleges he violated U.S. law by influencing the laws of Uganda.

BOSTON — A federal appeals court will hear arguments in April in an appeal of a judge’s ruling granting a taxpayer-funded sex change for a Massachusetts transgender inmate.

In a surprise move, the Obama Administration on Tuesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear two challenges relating to the Defense of Marriage Act, the 1996 federal law that defines marriage as between one man and one woman.

BOSTON — A federal appeals court in Boston on Thursday that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutionally denies federal benefits to married same-sex couples, a groundbreaking ruling that all but guarantees the issue will be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld Maine’s campaign disclosure law that requires the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage to release its donor list, but the group vowed to take the fight to the U.S. Supreme Court to prevent revealing who financed a $1.8 million movement that helped overturn the state’s gay marriage law.

BOSTON — Seventy major U.S. companies, including CBS, Google, Microsoft, Nike and Starbucks, have come together in an “amicus” brief — commonly referred to as a “friend of the court” brief — claiming that the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is harmful to commerce.

A federal appeals court in Boston on Wednesday denied a request by attorneys for the National Organization for Marriage to hold a rehearing on the court’s decision last month against the NOM.