Breaking: Harris County Judge Issued TRO Against Houston’s Same-Sex Couple Benefits

December 17th, 2013

Following from my previous post about the  suit against Houston over their policy of offering benefits to same-sex couples, Quorum Report has this update:

December 17, 2013      6:56 PM

HARRIS COUNTY REPUBLICANS WIN TRO AGAINST HOUSTON IN SAME SEX BENEFITS CASE

The judge in the case has set a hearing for January 6th

The Harris County GOP won the first round in what will no doubt be a protracted court battle over the city of Houston’s move to offer benefits to same-sex couples, the GOP Chairman Jared Woodfill said Tuesday evening.

Late in the day, a judge issued a temporary restraining order, which was provided to QR by Woodfill and which you can see here, that bars Mayor Annise Parker from following through on the policy change at least until a hearing can be held next month. That hearing is set for Jan 6.

Janice Evans-Davis, a spokeswoman for Mayor Parker, declined to comment for now. As of Tuesday evening, she said the city had not been notified by the court of the order.

The original suit filed by Woodfill can be found here.

I’ll post information as I receive it.

Update: The judge’s TRO states:

“Plaintiffs have shown a probably injury because the harm is imminent; if the temporary restraining order does not issue, the injury would be irreparable; and the applicant has not (sic) other adequate legal remedy.”

This would seem to suggest the Judge thinks there is standing.