VERSAILLES, Mo. – ACLU Lawyers in St. Louis resolved a case allowing a man from Canada to walk across the street to marry his fiance.

The American Civil Liberties Union defended April LaChance, who had been engaged to Canadian Alain Hersey-Brown for nearly three years before he was pulled over in November for a traffic violation, and then detained because he was not in the country legally.

ACLU Lawyer Grant Doty says the only thing stopping the marriage was that the license office was across the street from the jail, and the county recorder wouldn’t come across the street. Doty says the problem is that in Missouri, both parties need to be present at the county recorders office to get a marriage license.

“And while that seems very reasonable, there are times, when you can imagine, when two people would not be able to go before a recorder, for example, a solider who might be overseas,” he said.

The ACLU sued on behalf of the American woman’s right to marry, and won. The couple was married on May 7.