Today the U.S. Supreme Court accepted petitions to review two court decisions that challenge the constitutionality of marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The federal case, Windsor v. United States, involves the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The second case, Hollingsworth v. Perry, deals with California’s marriage amendment, Proposition 8.
Massachusetts Family Institute (MFI) has had a long-standing interest in preserving the natural definition of marriage. MFI was the driving force behind the Marriage Amendment that would have allowed the voters to decide the definition of marriage in the Commonwealth, but the Legislature denied the citizens the opportunity. More recently, MFI, in conjunction with Alliance Defending Freedom of Scottsdale, Arizona, filed an amicus brief supporting the Defense of Marriage Act in the case arising out of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (Gill).
Massachusetts Family Institute Executive Vice President Andrew Beckwith, J.D., made the following comments regarding the decision:
“We are glad that the Supreme Court will hear these two cases, and we hope that their decision next year will uphold both the bipartisan Defense of Marriage Act and California’s state constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
“At issue in these cases is, ultimately, the question of whether the government has a right to protect traditional marriage. Just last week, a court in Nevada ruled that it did. That is the position Massachusetts Family Institute argued in our brief in the 1st Circuit DOMA case, and we are encouraged that the Supreme Court now has an opportunity to confirm it.”
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MFI’s amicus brief in Gill: https://mafamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Brief-of-Amicus-Curiae-MFI.pdf
