Wisconsin Court Challenge to Amendment

[Steven E. Webster]

Friends,

Some interesting news in Wisconsin this week. A heterosexual Professor of Political Science brought a suit against the Amendment we passed a couple of years back. Based on polls that showed that Wisconsin voters support Civil Unions, but not Same-Sex Marriage, the Professor argued the legislature violated a rule against "bundling" more than one subject together in a Constitutional amendment. The Wisconsin Amendment (like other states) does two different things: 1) It for bids persons of the same sex from marrying; 2) and it forbids the government from recognizing any status "substantially similar to marriage" between persons of the same sex. Wisconsin voters may have agreed with number one, but not number two. However the bundling of these two questions together forced the voters to vote "yes" to both.

A lower court judge has accepted the Professor as having standing to bring this case and seems to be open to hearing the argument that the Constitutional amendment unconstitutionally bundled together two subjects that should have been brought to the voters separately. The question of "standing" to bring the suit had to do with whether the Professor, a heterosexual, married voter, could claim that he was harmed as a voter by the bundling of these questions. The judge agreed that he had such standing.

We'll see where this goes, but at least there is a start.

Steven Webster

[Steven E. Webster]

Friends

Here's a link that tells the story better:

http://www.fairwisconsin.com/

I don't know how far this will go. Our Wisconsin Supreme Court has a conservative reputation, but it is important to keep struggling with this issue--the more it stays before the public, the more support we get over time.

Steve W.

[Zerbie]

Good luck.

AZ tried this before the amendment got on the ballot, on the exact same grounds (sounds like your amendment text is almost verbatim what they proposed here), but the courts decided it was really one issue. Luckily, our voters went for a NO vote on the whole thing.

Good luck in WI.