Michigan AG Asks Supreme Court To Skip Ruling on Marriage Equality

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette filed a brief Monday continuing his hard-line approach to defending the state's marriag ban.

He asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow Michigan's 2004 voter-approved marriage ban to remain in tact, essentially arguing the justices should keep out of it. Schuette writes that by taking up a legal challenge to the ban, the Supreme Court would be impeding on citizens' right to vote.

"This case comes down to two words: who decides," reads the petition. "The history of our democracy demonstrated the wisdom of allowing the people to decide important issues at the ballot box, rather than ceding those decisions to unelected judges."

Schuette cites the Sixth Circuit Court's recent decision to uphold current marriage laws as effectively and accurately executing the intended nature of the U.S. Constitution. In the petition, Schuette argues that the Fourteenth Amendment is being incorrectly interpreted by the other circuit courts that have overturned marriage equality bans.

Last week, a Michigan couple at the center of the case appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The couple is suing for the right to marry and jointly adopt their children. Related cases in the Sixth Circuit, however, could also be accepted for a hearing by the Supreme Court, if it takes any.

Whereas attorneys general in some other states have refused to defend their marriage bans, Michigan's latest argument continues its hard line approach to defending the state's marriage ban. In March, a district court briefly overturned the state's ban on same-sex marriages and 300 couples flocked to the courthouses to get married before a stay could be issued. After the Sixth Circuit Court's decision, though, the state government claims these marriages never existed.