INDReporter

Appeals court upholds bans on same-sex marriage in 4 states

Ruling almost surely means the Supreme Court will take up the issue of whether gay couples have a constitutional right to marry.

Angela Costanza and Chasity Brewer, the couple whose custody case led to Judge Ed Rubin‘s historic decision clearing the state‘s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional

The Washington Post reported Thursday afternoon that a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit upheld same-sex marriage bans in four states. The ruling creates a split among the nation‘s appeals courts that almost surely means the Supreme Court will take up the issue of whether gay couples have a constitutional right to marry.

According to the Post:

The panel ruled 2 to 1 that while gay marriage is almost inevitable, in the words of U.S. Circuit Judge Jeffrey Sutton, it should be settled through the democratic process and not the judiciary. The decision overturned rulings in Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee and Kentucky, and makes it the first appeals court to uphold state bans since the Supreme Court in 2013 struck down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

In September District Judge Edward Rubin of the 15th Judicial District Court became the first sitting judge in Louisiana history to rule, definitively, that the state‘s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. Read more here.