The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:
Utah Constitutional Amendment 3 was an amendment to the Utah state constitution that sought to define marriage as a union exclusively between a man and woman. It passed in the November 2,2004,election,as did similar amendments in ten other states.
Neil McGill Gorsuch is an American jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President Donald Trump on January 31,2017,and has served since April 10,2017.
Stephanie Kulp Seymour is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. She was the first female federal court judge in Oklahoma.
Kent Amos Jordan is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He was previously a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware from 2002 to 2006.
Leslie H. Southwick is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and a former judge of the Mississippi Court of Appeals.
Scott Milne Matheson Jr. is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He has served on that court since 2010.
Sven Erik Holmes is an American attorney and jurist who served as United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma.
Elizabeth Crewson Paris is a senior judge of the United States Tax Court. She was appointed by President George W. Bush in February 2008. Her nomination passed the United States Senate in July 2008,and she was sworn in on July 30,2008. Her term expired on July 29,2023.
James Hardy Payne is an inactive senior United States District Judge in Oklahoma,sitting simultaneously on the federal courts for the Eastern,the Northern and the Western districts.
Ralph Emerson Campbell was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma.
John Hazelton Cotteral was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and previously was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma.
Claire Veronica Eagan is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma and a former Judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Effective February 12,2020,Chief Justice John G. Roberts appointed Judge Eagan as the chair of the Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference.
Monroe Gunn McKay was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Allison Lynn Hartwell Eid is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. She previously served as an associate justice of the Colorado Supreme Court.
Robert Edwin Bacharach is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
John Edward Dowdell is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Oklahoma since October 6,2014,following the resolution of a lawsuit challenging the state's ban on same-sex marriage. On that day,following the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to review Bishop v. Smith,a case that had found the ban unconstitutional,the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Oklahoma to recognize same-sex marriages. On January 14,2014,Judge Terence C. Kern of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma declared the state's statutory and constitutional same-sex marriage bans unconstitutional. The case,Bishop v. Smith,was stayed pending appeal. On July 18,2014,a panel of the Tenth Circuit upheld Kern's ruling overturning Oklahoma's same-sex marriage ban. However,the panel put its ruling on hold pending disposition of a petition for certiorari by the U.S. Supreme Court. On October 6,2014,the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the request for review,leaving the Tenth Circuit Court's ruling in place. State officials responded by implementing the Tenth Circuit's ruling,recognizing same-sex marriage in the state.
John Michael O'Connor is an American attorney and politician who served as the 19th attorney general of Oklahoma between 2021 and 2023. O’Connor was previously a shareholder of Hall Estill and a nominee to be a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma,the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma,and the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma.
Justin Reed Walker is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He was previously a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky from 2019 to 2020.
