ADF attorneys author fifth brief in support of marriage for New York courts
Friend-of-the-court brief filed in Orangetown same-sex "marriage" case is fifth authored by ADF attorneys to defend marriage in the Empire StateALBANY, N.Y. - Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund have filed the fifth friend-of-the-court brief they have authored for the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, in cases related to the defense of marriage. In New York, the Supreme Court is a lower court.
"Same-sex 'marriage' is not inevitable in New York state," said Glen Lavy, senior vice president of the Alliance Defense Fund's Marriage Litigation Center. "The briefs we have filed with the Appellate Division emphasize that laws recognizing marriage as the union of one man and one woman do not violate either the New York or federal constitution."
Friday's amicus brief, the most recent filed by ADF attorneys, was written on behalf of the Family Research Council for the case Shields v. Madigan. The ten same-sex couples who filed the suit appealed it to the Appellate Division after the trial court refused to rule in their favor.
The group, frequently referred to as the "Nyack 10," originally filed suit in March 2004 after the town clerk of Orangetown denied them marriage licenses on the basis that state law prevents issuing marriage licenses to couples of the same sex.
According to the amicus brief filed Friday, the trial court "properly recognized that state law providing for marriage only for opposite-sex couples violates neither equal protection nor due process.... Moreover, the trial court's ruling accords with the overwhelming majority of courts in finding that the state's interest in steering procreation into marriage justifies opposite-sex marriage laws."
The full text of the brief can be read at www.telladf.org/UserDocs/MadiganAmicus.pdf. ADF attorneys have also written amicus briefs for the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, in the following cases:
- Samuels v. New York Department of Health
- Robles v. Hernandez
- Kane v. Marsolais
- Seymour v. Holcomb
- Robles v. Hernandez
