Federal Court of Appeals Tosses Same-Sex Marriage Case

San Francisco, CA - Today in Smelt v. Orange County, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a challenge brought by same-sex marriage advocates. Liberty Counsel defended the case on behalf of Campaign for California Families, which was granted defendant-intervenor status.

The case began when Arthur Smelt and Christopher Hammer filed a federal lawsuit against the Orange County Clerk seeking a same-sex marriage license and claiming that the California Marriage Laws and Federal Defense of Marriage Act ("DOMA") violate their rights of Equal Protection, Due Process, Privacy and Freedom of Speech provisions under the United States Constitution.

Today's decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the suit. The Court abstained from ruling on the state law claims because the state law challenge is currently pending in the California state courts. The Court noted that marriage has always been of paramount importance to the state and the state has always regulated the institution. The Court therefore said it must give deference to the state.

The Court then ruled that the same-sex plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the federal DOMA. The Court ruled that the no state has determined that they are married. "Were they to change their residence to Massachusetts, their situation might change," the Court said. Since they have not been recognized as being married, they lacked standing to challenge the federal DOMA.

Liberty Counsel President and General Counsel Mathew D. Staver stated, "Chalk up another victory for marriage. The federal courts should defer to state courts and the state courts should defer to state legislatures. The people, not the courts, should determine marriage policy. Recent statistics have shown that in those jurisdictions that have adopted same-sex marriage, very few same-sex couples are rushing to the altar. Same-sex advocates want same-sex marriage not to get married but to radically redefine marriage and upset the culture. Same-sex marriage would drastically alter our society and hurt children. We must move forward with the Federal Marriage Protection Amendment to ensure that every state in the union protects marriage as the union of one man and one woman."