Brian Brown, president of the National
Organization for Marriage (NOM), said this week that he believes
Justice Anthony Kennedy, often considered the court's swing vote,
will uphold state bans on gay marriage.
During an appearance on Fox
News, Brown noted the court's ruling in a case from last term
that upheld the 2006 decision by Michigan voters that prohibits state
universities from considering race when deciding a student's
application to attend a state-run university
Kennedy, writing for the majority,
wrote: “It is the right to speak and debate and learn and then, as
a matter of political will, to act through a lawful electoral
process.”
“Kennedy makes quite clear that the
people of the state of Michigan, whether the justices agree with them
or not, have the right as a matter of simple process to vote on key
issues and to resolve them for themselves,” Brown said.
Currently, defendants in cases
challenging bans in three states – Utah, Oklahoma and Virginia –
have asked the Supreme Court to intervene.
(Related: Federal
appeals court denies stay in Virginia gay marriage case.)
Elizabeth B. Wydra, chief counsel at
the Constitutional Accountability Center, disagreed with Brown's
assessment: “When it comes to our most fundamental constitutional
rights, you simply can't pass a law, even if it's through the regular
democratic process, that infringes the federal Constitution.”