Supreme Court asked to hear Idaho same-sex marriage case
Idaho officials have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a case striking down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.
In two separate filings with the high court, Idaho Gov. Butch Otter and the state’s attorney general, Lawrence Wasden, urged the justices to take up the case and resolve whether the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits states from defining marriage as between a man and a woman.
“[I]f Idaho prevails here, this Court will have necessarily concluded that the State is ‘competent’ to define marriage,” Wasden wrote in his petition for writ of certiorari filed with the court last week. “And forcing Idaho – or any other State – to recognize another State’s marriage license in violation of Idaho’s Constitution would improperly compel Idaho to “substitute” the marriage laws of another State for Idaho’s own laws. Accordingly, the Court’s resolution of the question presented can mark the end of marriage litigation in all respects.”
In a separate petition, Idaho’s Republican governor argued that the “time has come for this Court to resolve a question of critical importance to the States, their citizens and especially their children: Whether the federal Constitution prohibits a State from maintaining the traditional understanding and definition of marriage as between a man and a woman.”
According to Otter, the Idaho case is the only same-sex marriage case petitioned to be heard by the Supreme Court where “any public officials have mounted a truly vigorous policy defense of the man-woman understanding and definition of marriage—including an explanation of its salutary effects on the children of heterosexual couples, and why such a definition satisfies any level of constitutional scrutiny.”
Upon return from their winter recess, the nine Supreme Court justices will meet behind closed doors on Jan. 9 to consider a number of cases petitioned to be heard by the high court. Among those cases distributed for consideration by the justices are challenges to same-sex marriage bans in five states: Louisiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. The cases mark the first pertaining to same-sex marriage to come before the justices since they doubled the number of marriage-equality states in October by declining to hear several same-sex marriage cases petitioned to the court.
However, according to Otter, those states ”have shied away from defending that definition with full vigor, preferring instead to rely on narrower rational-basis-type defenses.”
“Those defenses are both valuable and correct,” Otter’s petition states. “However, it is important that at least one of the cases this Court considers on the merits be a case in which the traditional definition has been defended with the most robust defense available. This is that case.”
In October, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 3-0 that Idaho’s same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional. Although a temporary stay of that decision was granted in Idaho, on Oct. 10 the Supreme Court allowed same-sex marriages to move forward, denying a request by state officials to stay the federal appeals court’s ruling. That same month attorneys for Otter’s administration asked the full 9th Circuit to review the decision, which they said “appears to be judicial policymaking masquerading as law.”
Support Metro Weekly’s Journalism
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
