DES MOINES, Iowa, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- The highest court in Iowa has agreed to decide whether lawmakers can sue to nullify a civil union's dissolution.
The Des Moines Register said Iowa Supreme Court will decide whether a group of lawmakers can sue to throw out a Sioux City judge's decree that ended a civil union between a lesbian couple.
The court Tuesday ordered Judge Jeffrey Neary's decree be put on hold, but said opponents must show legal standing to have the decree overturned.
T. Reid, a lawyer for the Iowa Liberty and Justice Center in Pleasant Hill, said the ruling is a first-round victory for the lawmakers.
The court isn't expected to review Neary's authority to dissolve a civil union between two Sioux City women until it first resolves the issue of standing. The women were united in Vermont in March 2002.
Civil unions, recognized in Vermont more than three years ago, have united gay couples from every U.S. state, including Iowa. Vermont officials say 20 couples from Iowa have been united since the law went into effect July 1, 2000.
Iowa lawmakers say Neary's decree could open the way for Iowa courts to recognize same-sex civil unions and, eventually, same-sex marriages.
