Update from Supreme Court Hearing on Registration of “Utah Marriages”

Update from Supreme Court Hearing on Registration of “Utah Marriages”

On Monday, January 30, 2023, the Supreme Court held a hearing on the State's appeal regarding the registration of Utah marriages in the Israeli population registry, as the population authority is required to do for civil marriages of Israelis that take place in all other countries of the world

08/02/2023 14:23

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Shira and Alex - one of the couples that got married in a Utah wedding and who were assisted by Hiddush.

On Monday, January 30, 2023, the Supreme Court held a hearing on the State's appeal regarding the registration of Utah marriages in the Israeli population registry, as the population authority is required to do for civil marriages of Israelis that take place in all other countries of the world. The hearing that took place before Justices Fogelman, Kanfi-Steinitz and Kasher left us optimistic. We feel that there is a very good chance that the State's appeal will be rejected and our achievements in the administrative courts (which ordered the Population Authority to register as married couples who were married via the online marriage platform available through Utah County, Utah, US) will be upheld by the Supreme Court as well. This will re-affirm the option for many Israeli couples who were previously unable to get married, to do so.

Currently, the general public in Israel is forced to marry solely within the confines of the religious establishment. Therefore, due to the restrictions imposed by the religious laws hundreds of thousands of citizens cannot marry at all, and many more cannot marry in a manner that befits their beliefs and values, whether secular, liberal-religious and/or egalitarian.

Of course, it is impossible to know with certainty what the final ruling of the court will be. But our optimism is based not only on our deep conviction that our reading of the law is correct (as was confirmed by the Jerusalem Administrative Court that ruled in our favor, based on the solid legal arguments we put forth) but also on the comments and questions of some of the Supreme Court Justices during

We shall overcome: marriage freedom will be advanced"

the hearing.

These gave us reason to believe that the solid legal arguments that we raised in our petitions also met with the agreement of these Justices, as evidenced by the comments and questions they posed to the State Attorney’s representative. The Justices were critical of the State's attempt to expand the powers and discretion of the Registry Clerk, in a similar manner to our response to the State's appeal. They questioned the Clerk’s authority to refuse to register a marriage in cases where mere doubts were raised and there was no definite, overt and unequivocal illegality emerged in the official marriage certificate of a foreign country which was presented to the clerk .

Like Hiddush, the presiding Justice also noted that this was the State’s practice in other past cases, where its representatives argued that "this particular case" differs from the clear and consistent precedents of the past (which go back for over sixty years) and therefore justifies the State's refusal to register the marriage. Each time they did this in the past, the court rejected these attempts and reaffirmed the consistent past precedents. Clearly, the State is trying the same once again, and we hope and believe that the court will reject their attempt this time as well, and that it will not be long before the court announces its ruling.

It is high time to reaffirm the watch words of the ongoing struggle for civil liberties: “We shall overcome”: marriage freedom will be advanced, and we take great pride in being leading players in this sacred undertaking.