The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Fundamental Right to Marry

   

This guest post is from Sarah Stefaniak, current Regent Family Law student:

Engagement is an exciting time. A time of many phone calls of good news to family and friends, and the overwhelming joy in knowing you are marrying your best friend. However, after the initial celebration, the time becomes increasingly stressful as the wedding planning process begins. Most couples face the stress of finding available venues and vendors, working on a budget, attending wedding preparation counseling, all while trying to enjoy the time as an engaged couple. With the current COVID-19 pandemic, however, the stress has doubled. Many couples from 2020 who postponed their wedding due to COVID-19 concerns are now rescheduling into this new year, taking over 2021 options, making it an incredibly busy year for weddings. Both 2020 and 2021 engaged couples are hoping to tie the knot this year as restrictions begin to lift and the virus is contained. But what about those couples who were forced to postpone their wedding due to government restrictions?

 

Under the Fourteenth Amendment, there is a fundamental right to marry. Is that right affected at all when early on in the pandemic, churches and wedding venues were closed to help contain the spread of the virus? What about those couples who held their wedding ceremonies over Zoom in lieu of an actual venue because of restrictions?  Might any of those weddings and marriages negatively affected by COVID ever see any legal or equitable relief for their losses?

 

It is doubtful that a court would consider any loss of rights or damages when the shutdown forced couples to cut most of the invitees out of the wedding to comply with government orders of public gatherings as a violation of that fundamental right. The right to marry does not mean the right to a lavish wedding with 200+ guests who travel from around the country to celebrate a couple’s nuptials. However, is that right infringed when a couple is forced to postpone after their venue closes from the governmental restrictions?

 

The COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented.  Out of these circumstances arise issues in constitutional family law. Having a wedding during the pandemic was a hard decision that many couples made, opting to start their life together as they planned, without family there to witness and celebrate the event. But some couples were forced to postpone after venues and vendors cancelled under the restrictions. Have those couples with wedding ceremonies affected by the COVID-19 pandemic been denied their fundamental right to marry?

 

While these couples may have lost the opportunity for a big celebration, the government can never take away their right to marry, regardless of extenuating circumstances such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Family restoration is essential, even in the midst of government restriction.