BOSTON — Members of the Massachusetts legislature today finally performed their constitutional duty by voting on a proposed marriage amendment to be placed on the commonwealth’s November 2008 ballot.
“The Massachusetts Legislature chose to do the right thing,” said Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel Glen Lavy. “Now the amendment moves forward to the next step in the process.”
More than 170,000 of the commonwealth’s citizens had signed petitions in favor of such an amendment appearing on the November 2008 ballot.
On December 13, ADF attorneys filed a federal lawsuit asserting that members of the Massachusetts Legislature had acted illegally by ignoring their constitutional duty to vote on the proposed amendment which defines marriage as the union between one man and one woman.
Last week, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court affirmed that failing to vote violated the Legislature’s sworn duty to uphold the Constitution. ADF’s lawsuit filed on behalf of VoteOnMarriage.org asserted a federal due process claim against the Legislature’s refusal to vote on the amendment.
“Because the Legislature has voted, there is now no further need for the federal lawsuit,” said Lavy.
A copy of the complaint in
VoteOnMarriage v. Dimasi can be read at
www.telladf.org/UserDocs/VOMcomplaint.pdf.
“The ADF lawsuit prompted the legislators to finally perform their constitutional duty,” Lavy continued. “The battle to preserve marriage in Massachusetts is alive and well after today’s vote.”
For more information on the battle to protect marriage, visit
www.domawatch.org.
ADF is a legal alliance defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation.
www.telladf.org www.domawatch.org