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Law requiring birth certificate for marriage challenged

flickr.com/Robert Occhialini
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https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/

Viet Anh Vo is a U.S. citizen who's lived in Louisiana since he was an infant, but he says in court papers he's unable to get a marriage license under a 2015 state law that, he argues, discriminates against the foreign-born.

 

A federal judge in New Orleans will hear the case Wednesday.

 

At issue is a requirement that marriage license applicants present a certified copy of their birth certificates. The 31-year-old Vo was born in an Indonesian refugee camp after his parents fled Vietnam. His suit says Vietnamese and Indonesian authorities didn't recognize his birth or issue a birth certificate.

 

Defendants in his suit are state officials and court clerks in three parishes where he was denied a license. It's unclear when the judge will rule.