Catholic Dioceses File Brief in Nebraska Marriage Case

SEPTEMBER 9, 2005, JEFFERSON CITY, MO - The Missouri Catholic Conference has joined with all Catholic Conferences and dioceses within the boundaries of the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, to file a amicus curiae ("friend of the court") brief urging the court to reverse a ruling that struck down a provision of the Nebraska state constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman. The Eighth Circuit encompasses the states of Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, and Arkansas.

A federal district court judge in Omaha ruled last May that a provision of Nebraska's state constitution violated several provisions of the U.S. Constitution. Nebraska voters approved the constitutional amendment in November 2000. The ruling marked the first time that a federal court has struck down a state constitution provision that reserved marriage to a man and a woman. Nebraska appealed the decision to the Eighth Circuit appeals court.

The brief of the Catholic Conferences and dioceses argues to the court that a State may indeed reserve the institution of marriage, including the rights, privileges and benefits thereof, to opposite-sex couples and not be in violation of either the Due Process Clause or the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and that neither the First Amendment nor the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment forbids the people of Nebraska from amending their state constitution as they voted to do in 2000.

In August of 2004, Missouri voters overwhelmingly approved a state constitution amendment that reserves marriage to one man and one woman. Although Missouri's amendment differs from the language used in Nebraska, the Eighth Circuit's decision could have repercussions for marriage law in Missouri, according to Deacon Larry Weber, the executive director of the Missouri Catholic Conference. "Decisions by the Eighth Circuit can impact all the states in the circuit," said Weber. "The lower court's decision is so broad and extreme that a decision upholding the ruling could jeopardize the constitutional amendment adopted by Missouri voters just last year," he added.

Nebraska Catholic Conference Executive Director James R. Cunningham said it was "extremely important and gratifying" that all the other state conferences and dioceses in the Eighth Circuit participated. "Preserving the institution of marriage as the union of a man and a woman is a public-policy cause of high priority for the bishops," he said. "This is a highly significant case, with major public-policy ramifications, both in the present and for the future, and the opportunity to have a voice in the current process could not be ignored or bypassed," Cunningham said.

The states that have marriage amendments within the Eighth Circuit are Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and Arkansas. Currently eighteen states have passed marriage amendments defining marriage as between one man and one woman. Those states are: Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Utah.