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(Boston, Massachusetts) The Supreme Judicial
Court of Massachusetts reserved judgment Thursday in a legal challenge to a
proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
Gay and Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, the
group that won the landmark ruling by the same court that allowed same-sex
couples to wed in the state, is asking the court to block the proposed amendment
from going to voters.
GLAD argued that Attorney General Thomas Reilly
improperly certified the ballot question, allowing a conservative Christian
group to begin collecting signatures to have the issue placed before voters in
2008.
GLAD attorney Gary Buseck said that the question
would in effect overturn the high court's ruling allowing same-sex marriage and
in doing so be unconstitutional.
The state constitution empowers only the
legislature to seek to amend the constitution in response to a decision by the
Supreme Judicial Court, Buseck argued.
"[Voters] shouldn't be able to directly
attack an SJC decision," he said.
Assistant Attorney General Peter Sacks told the
court that the question did not violate the constitution because the proposed
amendment would only ban future same-sex marriages and not undo existing ones.
Once Reilly certified the question Vote On
Marriage - an umbrella group made up of the Catholic Church and evangelical
groups- began gathering signatures. (story)
Vote On Marriage collected double the 65,825
signatures required and submitted them to Secretary of State William Galvin who
declared the petitions valid and passed the issue on to the legislature. (story)
The House and Senate will have to approve the
question in two successive sessions for it to go on the 2008 ballot. A joint
session of the legislature to take up the issue is scheduled for May 10.
Opponents of the amendment at the State House have indicated they will seek to
have the issue postponed until after the high court rules
The justices gave no indication when they will
issue a ruling.
©365Gay.com 2006
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