A federal judge on Monday ruled that
Ohio must recognize the legal marriages of gay couples on death
certificates.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Black cited
the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling knocking down a key provision of the
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in his 50-page
ruling.
“This conclusion flows from the
Windsor decision of the United States Supreme Court this past
summer, which held that the federal government cannot refuse to
recognize a valid same-sex marriage,” Black wrote. “And now it
is just as Justice Scalia predicted – the lower courts are applying
the Supreme Court's decision, as they must, and the question is
presented whether a state can do what the federal government cannot –
i.e., discriminate against same same-sex couples … simply because
the majority of the voters don't like homosexuality (or at least
didn't in 2004). Under the Constitution of the United States, the
answer is no, as follows.”
While Black's ruling is limited to
ordering Ohio to recognize the out-of-state marriages of gay couples
on death certificates, his opinion goes beyond that narrow question
to declare the state's 2004 voter-approved constitutional amendment
limiting marriage to heterosexual unions unconstitutional.
“[T]he Supreme Court has established
that existing marital, family, and intimate relationships are areas
into which the government should generally not intrude without
substantial justification,” Black wrote. “Based on these
principles, the concept that a marriage that has legal force where it
was celebrated also has legal force throughout the country has been a
longstanding general rule in every state.”
“The right to remain married is
therefore properly recognized as one that is a fundamental liberty
interest appropriately protected by the Due Process Clause of the
United States Constitution. Here, Ohio's marriage recognition bans
violate this fundamental right without rational justification.”
The ruling comes just days after a
federal judge ruled Utah's marriage ban unconstitutional.
(Related: District
court denies stay in Utah gay marriage ruling.)
Black's previous rulings angered Ohio
state Rep. John Becker, a Republican from Union Township, who accused
Black of “malfeasance and abuse of power” in calling for the
judge's impeachment.