January 06, 2014
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Family Research Council (FRC) today welcomed the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to stay a ruling by a federal District Court judge in Utah last month which had resulted in the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples across Utah.
The Utah state constitution defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and the Court's decision today means that definition will continue to be enforced until final disposition of the case by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, to which the state has appealed.
FRC President Tony Perkins issued the following statement:
"The Supreme Court has today signaled that it will not allow state laws defining marriage to be set aside by a lone judge without a careful consideration of the issues involved. The issuance of a stay is consistent with the Court's ruling last year in Windsor v. United States, in which they affirmed that states have the 'historic and essential authority to define the marital relation' and condemned federal efforts 'to influence or interfere with state sovereign choices about who may be married.'
"FRC plans to support Utah in its appeal of this case to the Tenth Circuit with a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the definition of marriage adopted by the people of Utah."
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