A new ruling by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the right of states to define marriage and striking down lower court decisions which declared bans on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional, now sets the stage for a Supreme Court ruling on one of the most controversial issues of our time.

According to a press release by the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), the majority opinion, written by Justice Jeffrey Sutton, argues forcefully that courts should leave a decision about changing “such a fundamental social institution” as marriage to the American people and the democratic process.

They said, “Process and structure matter greatly in American government. Indeed, they may be the most reliable, liberty assuring guarantees of our system of government, requiring us to take seriously the route the United States Constitution contemplates for making such a fundamental change to such a fundamental social institution.”

The 2-1 ruling also agreed that federal judges should not be making decisions of this magnitude for the people living within its jurisdiction.

“Of all the ways to resolve this question, one option is not available: a poll of the three judges on this panel, or for that matter all federal judges, about whether gay marriage is a good idea. Our judicial commissions did not come with such a sweeping grant of authority, one that would allow just three of us – just two in truth – to make such a vital policy call for the thirty-two million citizens who live within the four states of the Sixth Circuit.”

The ruling leaves intact marriage amendments in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee that ban same-sex marriages.

According to World Net Daily (WND), John Lewis of the gay activist group, Marriage Equality, called the ruling “out of step with the decisions of 40 other courts.”

He went on to say that “It is clear that the freedom to marry is a fundamental constitutional right that belongs to all Americans, not just some Americans.”

However, NOM President Brian Brown praised the decision and encouraged the nation’s highest court to take on the case.

“We have been awaiting this decision for some time and welcome it not only as a tremendous victory, but as a common sense recognition that it is not for the federal courts to substitute their judgment about whether same-sex ‘marriage’ is a good idea or not, but to leave it to the people to make the decision about this fundamental institution,” Brown said.

Attorney Mat Staver, chairman of Liberty Counsel, a law firm that has vigorously defended traditional marriage, said that precisely because the 6th Circuit ruling was different from the others, the Supreme Court will now have reason to be the final arbiters of this contentious issue.

“With a divide in the appeals court rulings, the Supreme Court will likely take up the issue,” he told WND.

When it does so, the high court will have plenty of precedent to reference. For instance, in 1942, the Supreme Court ruled that marriage is “fundamental to the very existence and survival of the race.” In 1888 it ruled, “An institution in the maintenance of which in its purity the public is deeply interested, for it is the foundation of the family and of society, without which there would be neither civilization nor progress.”

Staver said marriage “is not merely a creation of any one civilization or its statutes, but is an institution older than the Constitution and, indeed, older than any laws of any nation.”

However, there is one aspect of the 6th Circuit ruling that Brown disagrees with – the opinion that voters are changing their minds about same-sex marriage and are much more accepting of it now.

” . . . (T)he majority is wrong to suggest that voters have changed their minds,” Brown countered.

“In fact, in the vast majority of states that now have redefined marriage, it’s been judges and not voters who have done this. The movement to redefine marriage does not benefit from having momentum, it benefits from the exercise of raw political power by federal and state judges and politicians bent of imposing their politically-correct view of the world on the American people.”

He pointed to several recent developments to show that support for same-sex marriage is waning.

“Just look at what’s happened in just the last few days,” Brown said. “In Ohio, advocates of gay ‘marriage’ have pulled a ballot petition because of the fear they will lose. In North Carolina, a poll last week showed that support for traditional marriage stood at 72%, an eleven point increase over the 61% of voters who passed their marriage amendment. Marriage just played a central factor in the defeat of both US Senators Kay Hagan (NC) and Mark Pryor (AR), not to mention numerous other candidates, including several Republicans, who favor redefining marriage. And an NBC election-day survey found that support for redefining marriage had plateaued while opposition had increased by two points.”

He concluded: “The reality is that same-sex ‘marriage’ is entirely a creation of the elite in boardrooms and courtrooms and not something that is supported by the American people.”

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