Thomas More Society Attorneys Urge the U.S. Supreme Court to Uphold States’ Rights and Popular Sovereignty in Defense of Traditional Marriage

The Society’s amicus brief co-author Patrick Gillen also co-authored Michigan’s Marriage Protection Act

(April 28, 2015 – Washington, D.C.) In the wake of today’s historic oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Chicago-based Thomas More Society calls attention to the friend-of-the-Court (amicus curiae) brief which it filed earlier on behalf of the American Family Association–Michigan and the Michigan Marriage Protection Act (MMPA) – a constitutional amendment initiated and ratified overwhelmingly by the people of the State of Michigan.

The Society’s brief, authored by Special Counsel Attorneys Steve Crampton and Pat Gillen, argues in favor of Michigan’s right to uphold marriage as the union of one man and one woman for the good of the family and for society itself. The brief states: “As [the Supreme] Court wrote in Windsor, ‘a statewide deliberative process that enable[s] its citizens to discuss and weigh arguments for and against same-sex marriage’ demonstrates respect for the democratic process and the structural restraints embedded in our Constitution.” In other words, the Supreme Court has no business second-guessing the will of the people expressed through the Michigan Marriage Amendment.

The Society’s brief further quotes Tenth Circuit Judge Paul Kelly, who stated in Kitchen v. Herbert: “Requiring every state to recognize same gender unions – contrary to the views of its electorate and representatives – turns the notion of a limited national government on its head.”

Citing Professor Robert P. George, an authority on natural marriage, Thomas More Society also reminds the Court that “The family is the fundamental unit of society. . . .[F]amilies . . . produce something that governments need but, on their own, they could not possibly produce: upright, decent people who make honest law-abiding, public-spirited citizens. And marriage is the indispensable foundation of the family.” To alter the definition of marriage is to destroy the very foundation of society.

Thomas More Society thus urges the U.S. Supreme Court to respect the democracy upon which our country was founded, to allow Michigan’s definition of marriage and family to stand, and not to thwart the will of the people by imposing a redefinition of marriage on the whole country.

Read Thomas More Society’s amicus brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court here.