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Indiana Appeals Gay Marriage Ruling In U.S. Supreme Court

Last updated on Wednesday, September 10, 2014

(INDIANAPOLIS) - The State of Indiana Tuesday filed an appeal with the United States Supreme Court against a 7th Circuit ruling last week that invalidated Indiana’s marriage statute.

In filing its appeal, the State asks the nation's highest court to reverse the lower court and reinstate Indiana's longstanding legal definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman.

"Less than six months after my office first entered our appearance in trial court to defend our state client from this lawsuit, our case now is knocking on the door of the United States Supreme Court, timing that is lightning speed by the standards of the federal court system," said Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller. "Our state, nation and all persons involved need a final, unambiguous and conclusive answer from the Supreme Court on the legal authority of states to license marriages, and we ask the Court to take up this question through either our case or another case at its earliest opportunity and end the uncertainty."

Three other states have appealed federal circuit rulings in legal challenges to their marriage laws -- Utah, Oklahoma and Virginia. In each of the legal challenges, federal circuit appeals courts used different legal basis and reasoning to strike down the state's marriage laws. Indiana contends that due to the circuit split, the Supreme Court should take up the legal question this term and resolve it conclusively.

Lambda Legal, the attorney's office that filed the original lawsuit against the State's marriage statute, said Tuesday it planned to file papers in the appeal by the end of the day.

"Only the highest court in the country can provide the secure relief that same-sex couples and their children need, and it's extremely important that these families are able to count on the protections of marriage as soon as possible," said Paul Castillo, a staff attorney for Lambda Legal. "We achieved a unanimous Seventh Circuit opinion describing in some of the strongest language to date the harms experienced both by same-sex couples and their children when these families are barred from marriage. We are ready to make the case at the highest court if this case is granted review."

The Attorney General's office notes that Indiana's case is free of some legally complicating factors found in other cases and affords the Supreme Court a good opportunity to decide the matter - either as a stand-alone case or in conjunction with other cases. Drafted by Solicitor General Thomas M. Fisher, Indiana's cert petition notes on page 26:

"In defending Indiana's marriage statute and the state defendants as its duty from the plaintiffs' lawyers' lawsuit, the Attorney General's Office has provided a defense through its existing office budget the Legislature approved in advance. The case is assigned to an on-staff salaried attorney who does not charge billable hours. Unlike other states, Indiana has not hired outside counsel to defend its statute."

Separately, the Attorney General's Office will ask the 7th Circuit to extend, for the time being, the stay it issued June 27 so the statute blocking same-sex marriage will remain in place until the U.S. Supreme Court can decide the appeal.

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