Wolf and Schumacher v. Walker

The Wisconsin Department of Justice is opposing civil rights advocates’ claims for $1.2 million in attorney fees they say they accumulated fighting the state’s gay marriage ban.

The state Department of Justice says it doesn’t have any records of the hours it spent defending Wisconsin’s same-sex marriage ban, making the full cost of fighting the case impossible to determine.

Thirteen lawyers and a team of paralegals spent 2,393 hours on the case; they say the large costs are due to the state’s vigorous defense of the ban.

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin’s Republican attorney general is conceding the fight to preserve the state’s same-sex marriage ban is over. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned away appeals from five states, including Wisconsin, seeking to prohibit same-sex marriages.

MADISON, Wis. — A federal appeals court on Wednesday stayed a ruling that Wisconsin’s same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this month upheld U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb’s June ruling that the ban violated gay couples’ equal protection rights.

CHICAGO — A U.S. appeals court ruled Thursday that same-sex marriage bans in Wisconsin and Indiana violate the U.S. Constitution, in another in a series of courtroom wins for marriage equality advocates. The unanimous decision by the three-judge panel of the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago bumps the number of states where gay marriage could be legal from 19 to 21.

CHICAGO — Federal appeals court judges considering whether to uphold gay marriage bans in Indiana and Wisconsin reserved their toughest questions for the states, asking how the bans help society, especially children of same-sex couples. A three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in the case Tuesday. Judge Richard Posner…

MADISON, Wis. — Plaintiffs for eight same-sex couples who challenged Wisconsin’s gay marriage ban are telling a federal appeals court that the ban denies same-sex couples legal protections and serves no rational government purpose. The American Civil Liberties Union made the arguments in a brief filed with the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday.

MADISON, Wis. — Gay couples challenging Wisconsin’s ban on same-sex marriages are objecting to the state’s request that the full 7th Circuit Court of Appeals hear arguments in the case. American Civil Liberties Union attorneys representing eight same-sex couples challenging the ban filed an objection Monday to the state’s request that the entire appeals court …

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin attorneys have asked the entire 7th Circuit Court of Appeals to hear their arguments on upholding the state’s gay marriage ban. Federal judges have struck down bans in both Wisconsin and Indiana. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals consolidated both states’ appeals last week. Ten judges sit on the 7th Circuit but three-judge panels …

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin Democrats are asking Gov. Scott Walker and fellow Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen to drop their defense of the state’s gay marriage ban, arguing it’s a waste of money. Fifteen Democratic state senators and 25 Democratic representatives sent letters to Walker and Van Hollen on Wednesday.

MADISON, Wis. — A federal appeals court has rejected Wisconsin’s initial bid to join Indiana in seeking a full-court hearing on the two states’ bans on same-sex marriage. But the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals said Tuesday that Wisconsin could file its own request.

A federal appeals court in Chicago will hear arguments in challenges of gay marriage bans in Wisconsin and Indiana’s on Aug. 13. Federal judges in both states have struck down the bans as unconstitutional. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals consolidated the Wisconsin and Indiana cases on Friday and put them on the fast track.

CHICAGO — A federal appeals court has combined Indiana and Wisconsin’s gay marriage cases and put them on the fast track. The move Friday by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago comes a day after Wisconsin’s attorney general filed a notice of appeal of a federal judge’s ruling last month striking down that state’s ban on same-sex marriages.

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin has appealed a federal judge’s ruling from last month striking down the state’s ban on same-sex marriages as unconstitutional. Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen filed the appeal on Thursday as he indicated at the time of the original ruling he would. U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb ruled on June 6 that the ban…

MADISON, Wis. — A federal judge will not speed up the briefing schedule in the American Civil Liberties Union request that she lift a stay on gay marriages in Wisconsin. U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb on Wednesday said she would stick to the current schedule, which gives Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen until Thursday to file an appeal to the request…

MADISON, Wis. — The American Civil Liberties Union has asked a federal judge to lift a stay on same-sex marriages in Wisconsin. U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb found the state’s same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional in an ACLU lawsuit June 6, sending same-sex couples rushing to courthouses to marry.

MADISON, Wis. — Same-sex marriages have been put on hold in Wisconsin by a federal judge who last week struck down the state’s gay marriage ban as unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb’s ruling Friday means that same-sex marriages, which have been taking place across the state for a week, will end while the case is pending.

MADISON, Wis. — The federal judge who struck down Wisconsin’s ban on same sex marriage a week ago strongly suggested Friday she would put that ruling on hold, but said she likely would issue a clear order by the end of the day. U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb didn’t immediately rule after Friday’s hearing, but hinted that she is likely to halt further marriages.

MADISON, Wis. — Both sides of the fight over same-sex marriages in Wisconsin are headed back to federal court for a hearing that could determine whether the weddings can continue. U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb scheduled the hearing for 1 p.m. on Friday.