1 Julaine K. Appling, Jo Egelhoff, Jaren E. Hiller
STATE OF WISCONSIN CIRCUIT COURT DANE COUNTY BRANCH 11 JULAINE K. APPLING, JO EGELHOFF, JAREN E. HILLER, RICHARD KESSENICH, and EDMUND L. WEBSTER, Plaintiffs, DECISION AND ORDER vs. JAMES E. DOYLE, Case No. 10-CV-4434 KAREN TIMBERLAKE, and JOHN KIESOW, Defendants, and FAIR WISCONSIN, INC., GLENN CARLSON & MICHAEL CHILDERS, CRYSTAL HYSLOP & JANICE CZYSCON, KATHY FLORES & ANN KENDZIERSKI, DAVID KOPITZKE & PAUL KLAWITER, and CHAD WEGE & ANDREW WEGE, Intervening Defendants. This is a Decision and Order regarding Intervening Defendants’ and Plaintiffs’ cross- motions for summary judgment. For the reasons discussed below, Intervening Defendants’ motion for summary judgment is GRANTED and Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment is DENIED. 1 BACKGROUND I. Facts On August 1, 2009, Wis. Stats. Chapter 770, which created the Domestic Partner Registry for same-sex couples, went into effect. Claiming to be injured because they are taxpayers, Plaintiffs challenge Chapter 770 as unconstitutional under Article VII, Sec. 13 of the Wisconsin Constitution (hereinafter referred to as the “Marriage Amendment”), alleging that the status created by Chapter 770, that is, the status of “domestic partnership,” is “substantially similar to that of marriage.” II. Parties All Plaintiffs are adult residents and taxpayers of the State of Wisconsin. (Compl. ¶¶ 3- 4). Prior to or during the legislative approval process and ratification campaign the Marriage Amendment, Plaintiff Julaine K. Appling was the President of Wisconsin Family Action (“WFA”), a Wisconsin not-for-profit organization engaged in public education and advocacy supporting approval and ratification of the Amendment. (Id.; Appling Aff. ¶¶ 1-2, March 8, 2011). Appling also served as chief executive officer of the Family Research Institute of Wisconsin (“FRI”) (n/k/a “Wisconsin Family Council”), a Wisconsin not-for-profit organization engaged in public education regarding family and social issues.
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