In the Matter of the Marriage of J.B. and H.B., 326 S.W.3d 654 (Tx. 5th Cir. Ct of Appeal 2010) is a Texas 5th Circuit Court of Appeal decision holding that Texas family courts lack jursidiction to hear divorce cases from same-sex couples married in foreign jurisdictions, and that Texas's Proposition 2 is consistent with the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. It reversed an earlier Texas district court ruling that struck down Proposition 2 on U.S. constitutional grounds, the second court decision in the nation's history to strike down a state marriage amendment as a violation of the U.S. Constitution.
Two men married in Massachusetts, identified by the courts as only J.B. and H.B., filed for a divorce in the Dallas County District Court. The state of Texas, represented by Attorney General Greg Abbott, moved to intervene to block the divorce, claiming that the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction. On October 1, 2009, Callahan had rejected Texas's intervention, holding that Proposition 2 was violated the Fourteenth Amendment's due process and equal protection clauses. [1]
The state immediately appealed the ruling. On August 31, 2010, the Texas Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal reversed, stating that a "same-sex divorce proceeding would give effect to the purported same-sex marriage in several ways" and that "[t]he state has a legitimate interest in promoting the raising of children in the optimal familial setting. It is reasonable for the state to conclude that the optimal familial setting for the raising of children is the household headed by an opposite-sex couple." [2] [3]
After the Fifth Circuit denied en banc review, J.B. sought review from the Texas Supreme Court. The petition for review is pending as of April 2011. [4]