Sixth Circuit upholds ban on same-sex marriage

A divided panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit last week reversed lower court rulings that struck down laws banning same-sex marriage.  Hon. Jeffrey Sutton, writing for the majority, said the question should not be decided by the courts.  He wrote that such a profound decision should be decided by “the less expedient, but usually reliable, work of the state democratic processes.”  The ruling upheld laws in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee.

Hon. Martha Daughtrey dissented, writing that the decision treated “both the issues and the litigants here as mere abstractions.”  Last month the Supreme Court declined to hear same-sex marriage cases from five states in the Fourth, Seventh and Tenth Circuits. Same-sex marriage cases from Texas and Florida are pending before the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits.

Sutton, a George W. Bush appointee, is considered “conservative but fair” by lawyers interviewed for the Almanac of the Federal Judiciary.