A federal judge on Friday struck down
Missouri's ban on gay marriage as unconstitutional.
“[T]he Court holds the prohibition on
same-sex marriage violates the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process
Clause,” U.S. District Judge Ortrie D. Smith wrote in his 18-page
ruling.
“The Court does not take lightly a
request to declare that a state law is unconstitutional,” Smith
added elsewhere. “Statutes are passed by the duly elected
representatives of the people. Article 1, section 33 constitutes the
direct expression of the people's will. It is not on a whim that the
Court supplants the will of the voters or the decisions of the
legislature.”
“But it should not be forgotten that
the Constitution is also an expression of the people's will. Indeed,
it is the paramount expression of the people's will; it cannot easily
be cast aside or circumvented by a vote of the citizens of a single
state.”
Plaintiffs in the case are two gay
couples, Angela Curtis and Shannon McGinty and Kyle Lawson and Evan
Dahlgren, who wish to marry in Missouri but were denied marriage
licenses in June.
The ruling comes two days after a state
judge knocked down Missouri's ban, allowing gay
couples to begin marrying in St. Louis, and a month after a judge
in a separate case ordered officials to recognize the out-of-state
marriages of gay couples.
Smith stayed his ruling pending an
appeal.
Attorney General Chris Koster said in a
statement that his office would appeal the ruling to the Eighth
Circuit Court of Appeals.
Marc Solomon, national campaign
director of Freedom to Marry, applauded Smith's ruling in a
statement.
“Today’s victory in Missouri marks
the third consecutive win in the ‘Show Me’ state in just over a
month, with all three judges affirming that marriage discrimination
is unconstitutional,” said Solomon, a Kansas City native. “We
encourage Attorney General Chris Koster not to appeal the ruling so
that Missouri becomes the next state where loving and committed
couples can share in the joy and dignity of marriage. Today’s
ruling adds to the powerful momentum of victories from a bipartisan
array of federal and state judges as we work to secure the freedom to
marry nationwide.”
(Ruling provided by Equality
Case Files.)