FRC: Incoherent 4th Circuit Ruling Strikes Down Democratic Right of Virginia Voters July 28, 2014

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Jul 28, 2014, 04:04 ET

WASHINGTON, July 28, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today a divided 4th Circuit Court of Appeals panel struck down Virginia's marriage amendment. In April, Family Research Council (FRC) submitted an amicus brief in the case Bostic v. Schaefer, which addresses efforts to overturn the amendment.

FRC's brief was written by Paul Linton, Esq., a highly regarded constitutional appellate attorney. Linton has submitted amicus briefs on behalf of FRC in several marriage cases around the country, including in the 10th Circuit Utah marriage case.

Of the two-to-one Virginia marriage ruling, Peter Sprigg, FRC's Senior Fellow for Policy Studies, said:

"In joining the judicial stampede to redefine marriage, the court not only radically departs from natural law and human history but omits altogether, as noted in the dissent, the 'necessary constitutional analysis.'

"The court ruling defines the ' right to marry' so broadly that it raises the question whether the logic would allow society to maintain any coherent definition of marriage. Judge Paul Niemeyer in his dissent noted that the court did not 'anticipate or address the problems' with expanding the definition so broadly that it could 'encompass the right of a father to marry his daughter or the right of any person to marry multiple partners.'

"While the Left continues to use the federal courts as the means to fulfill their radical social agenda, the courts will not have the final say. They cannot change natural law and the fact that society needs children, and children need a mom and a dad," concluded Sprigg.

To read FRC's Fourth Circuit amicus brief in the case, click here: http://frcblog.com/media/filer/2014/04/09/frc_va_amicus_bostic_v_schaefer_v05_20140404_fnl.pdf

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SOURCE Family Research Council