Appeals Court Upholds Same-Sex Marriage Ban For First Time
An appeals court upheld bans on gay marriage for four states this week for the first time since gay marriage bans began being appealed last year.
On Thursday afternoon, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit upheld gay marriage bans in four states, including Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee and Kentucky. U.S. Circuit Judge Jeffrey Sutton said in his opinion that he believes the issue of same-sex marriage should be solved through the democratic process, rather than the courts system.
"Surely the people should receive some deference in deciding when the time is ripe to move from one picture of marriage to another," Sutton, who was appointed by George W. Bush, wrote in his opinion.
Sutton added in his opinion that those challenging the states' same-sex marriage bans had failed to argue the case of "constitutionalizing the definition of marriage and for removing the issue from the place it has been since the founding: in the hands of state voters."
Sutton also wrote that saying it is constitutional to marry a same-sex couple could open the doors for other types of marriages, including polygamous ones.
"If it is constitutionally irrational to stand by the man-woman definition of marriage, it must be constitutionally irrational to stand by the monogamous definition of marriage," he wrote.
Several media outlets have pointed out that the 6th Circuit's recent ruling paves the way for a Supreme Court case that would determine the constitutionality of same-sex marriage. The Supreme Court declined to hear cases of struck-down gay marriage bans during its last session, saying that because there were no appeals courts that upheld the bans, the case would not be worth considering.
