A group opposed to gay marriage has
asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a case challenging Nevada's
marriage ban.
The Boise, Idaho-based Coalition for
the Protection of Marriage filed the request on Wednesday, the
AP reported. Its petition, known as a writ of certiorari, asks
the high court to take the case before it moves to the Ninth U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
U.S. District Chief Judge Robert Jones
last week ruled against plaintiffs challenging the state's 2002
voter-approved constitutional amendment defining marriage as a
heterosexual union.
In Sevick v. Sandoval, Jones, a
George W. Bush appointee, found that gay men and lesbians do not
qualify for protections under the Constitution's Equal Protection
Clause because they have not historically faced discrimination.
“Homosexuals have not historically
been denied the right to vote, the right to serve on juries, or the
right to own property,” Jones
wrote.
Jones, who has served as a bishop in
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons), also
opined in his 41-page ruling that the “perpetuation of the human
race” depended on the state's current definition of marriage as a
heterosexual union.
The Supreme Court is already
considering challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and
Proposition 8, California's gay marriage ban. In all of those cases,
however, federal judges sided with plaintiffs challenging the laws.