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 The 2-1 ruling, by the Cincinnati-based 6th Circuit U.S. Court of
Appeals, is the first ruling by a federal appeals court that upholds
bans on same-sex marriage. Gay marriage advocates said they would
immediately seek U.S. Supreme Court review.
The high court, if it agrees to hear the case, could potentially
issue a decision by the end of June saying once and for all whether
any states can ban gay marriage.
In Thursday’s ruling, the appeals court upheld gay marriage bans in
Kentucky and Michigan. It also ruled that Ohio, Tennessee and
Kentucky are not required to recognize gay marriages that take place
in other states.
Judge Jeffrey Sutton, appointed by Republican President George W.
Bush, wrote the majority decision and said plaintiffs favoring
same-sex marriage had not made the case why courts should intervene
instead of leaving the matter to state legislatures.
"When the courts do not let the people resolve new social issues
like this one, they perpetuate the idea that the heroes in these
change events are judges and lawyers,” he wrote.
 It is preferable, he added, that courts defer to “the customary
political processes, in which the people, gay and straight alike,
become the heroes of their own stories.”
Judge Martha Craig Daughtrey, the three-judge panel’s lone
Democratic appointee, in a dissenting opinion criticized the
majority’s ruling, saying it read like "an engrossing TED Talk”
neglectful of its own impact on gay and lesbian couples.
"Instead of recognizing the plaintiffs as persons suffering actual
harm as a result of being denied the right to marry where they
reside, or the right to have their valid marriages recognized there,
my colleagues view the plaintiffs as social activists who have
somehow stumbled into federal court," she wrote.
The ruling is likely to put the spotlight back on the U.S. Supreme
Court. It had been expected to take up the gay marriage issue in
October but in a surprise move rejected seven cases. In doing so, it
allowed gay marriage to go ahead in five new states and paved the
way for the fall of bans in others.
At present, gay marriage is legal in 32 states. Thursday’s decision
means that appeals courts across the country are now divided, which
could force the Supreme Court’s hand.
In the ruling, Sutton played down the high court’s action in
October, saying lower courts are not bound by it.
He also said a June 2013 ruling by the high court that struck down a
federal law denying federal benefits to same-sex couples did not
conclusively resolve the issue.
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He pointed out that the only time the justices have specifically
addressed gay marriage was in 1972, in a case called Baker v.
Nelson, when they upheld a ruling that prevented a gay couple in
Minnesota from seeking a marriage license.
Advocates on both sides of the issue immediately called for the
Supreme Court to make a definitive decision for the country.
"We will be filing for Supreme Court review right away and hope that
through this deeply disappointing ruling, we will be able to bring a
uniform rule of equality to the entire country," the American Civil
Liberties Union said in a statement.
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette applauded Thursday’s ruling
as a victory for Michigan's constitution. "The U.S. Supreme Court
will have the final word on this issue. The sooner they rule, the
better, for Michigan and the country," Schuette said in a statement.
Dana Nessel, a lawyer who represents April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse,
the couple who challenged the ban in Michigan, said she expects the
Supreme Court to take up the issue soon. "We're optimistic that
ultimately we are going to prevail on this and that same-sex
marriage will be legalized in all 50 states ... by the end of this
term," Nessel said in a telephone interview.
Attorney Joe Dunman, who represents the plaintiffs in the Kentucky
cases, said all options were being considered, including a Supreme
Court appeal.
They are extremely disappointed," Dunman said of the plaintiffs.
"They want to keep fighting all the way to the top."
(Additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel and David Bailey; Editing
by Sandra Maler, Kevin Drawbaugh, Joan Biskupic and Steve Orlofsky)
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