12-689 coalition's reply brief
TRANSCRIPT
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No. 12-689
In the Supreme Court of the United States_________
COALITION FOR THE PROTECTION OF MARRIAGE,Petitioner,
v.
BEVERLYSEVCIK, et al.,Respondents.
________________________
On Petition for a Writ of CertiorariBefore Judgment to the
United States Court of Appealsfor the Ninth Circuit
________________________
REPLY BRIEF FOR THE PETITIONER_______________________
MONTE NEIL STEWARTCounsel of Record
CRAIG G.TAYLORDANIEL W.BOWERBELNAP STEWART TAYLOR &
MORRIS PLLC12550 W. Explorer Drive,
Suite 100Boise, Idaho 83713(208) [email protected]
WILLIAM C.DUNCANMARRIAGE LAW
FOUNDATION1868 North 800 EastLehi,Utah 84043(801) 367-4570
Counsel for Petitioner Coalition for the Protection ofMarriage
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
1. A states federal constitutional authority to
preserve marriages man-woman meaning does notturn on whether it has adopted a domestic
partnership arrangement .......................................... 2
2. The Coalition has Article III standing in its own
right, and, in any event, the McConnellpiggy-back
doctrine applies with full force to the Petition ......... 9
3. The Oppositions discussion of grant, vacate, and
remand has no application to this case or to the
Petition ..................................................................... 13
APPENDIX IState Constitutional Provisions
On Domestic Partnerships ...................................... 1a
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TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
Cases
Diamond v. Charles,476 U.S. 54 (1986) .......................................... 11, 12
In re McElrath,
248 F.2d 612 (D.C. Cir. 1957) .............................. 11
King v. Bd. of Regents of Univ. of Nevada,
200 P.2d 221 (1948) ................................................ 7
McConnell v. Fed. Election Comm'n,
540 U.S. 93 (2003) .................................................. 9
Perry v. Brown,
671 F.3d 1052 (9th Cir. 2012) ................................ 1
Romer v. Evans,
517 U.S. 620 (1996) ................................................ 3
Constitutions and Statutes
28 U.S.C. 1254(1) ............................................... 9, 12
Nev. Rev. Stat. 122A.010 et seq. ........................... 2
Utah Const. art. I, 29 .............................................. 6
Rules
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24.......................... 10
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Other Authorities
Amici Curiae Brief of Judge Georg Ress and the
Marriage Law Foundation in Support of
Petitioners, Hollingsworth v. Perry, 133 S.Ct. 786(2012) (No. 12-144) ................................................. 5
Amicus Curiae Brief of Coalition for the Protection of
Marriage in Support of Hollingsworth and
Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group Addressing the
Merits and Supporting Reversal, Hollingsworth v.
Perry, Nos. 12-144 and 12-307
(U.S. Jan. 29, 2013) ................................................ 3
Eugene Gressman et al., Supreme Court Practices
2.52.4 (9th ed. 2007) ............................................ 9
John R. Searle, Making the Social World: The
Structure of Human Civilization (2010) ................ 4
Matthew O'Brien, Why Liberal Neutrality Prohibits
Same-Sex Marriage: Rawls, Political Liberalism,
and the Family, 1 Brit. J. Amer. L. Studies 411
(2012) ...................................................................... 4
Monte Neil Stewart, Eliding in Washington and
California,42 Gonzaga L. Rev. 501 (2007)............. 6
Monte Neil Stewart, Judicial Redefinition of
Marriage, 21 Can. J. Fam. L. 11 (2004) .................... 8
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________________________
REPLY BRIEF FOR THE PETITIONER_______________________
The Nevada government officials named as
defendants in this civil action and now appearing as
respondents (Government Respondents) have filed
no opposition to the Coalitions petition for writ of
certiorari before judgment (Petition). The
plaintiffs below (Plaintiff Respondents) have filed a
Brief in Opposition (Opposition).
The Petition demonstrated that this case is
optimal for resolving the fundamental marriage
issue. That issue is whether a state has sufficiently
strong interests in preserving the man-woman
meaning at the core of our societys marriage
institutionwhen at no time in its history has the
state allowed marriage by a same-sex couple. That
issue applies to all forty-one states that continue to
preserve marriages core man-woman meaning
except California. See Pet. App. 62a70a. Theunique California experience is now before this
Court in Hollingsworth v. Perry, No. 12-144.
Although it is possible that this Court will resolve
Perry in a way that answers the fundamental
marriage issue, that is far from certain; the Ninth
Circuit did not do so, relying instead on the unique
take away feature it perceived in Californias
Proposition 8. SeePerry v. Brown, 671 F.3d 1052,
1064, 1076, 1082 n.14, 1087 n.20, 1096 (9th Cir.
2012), cert. granted sub nom.Hollingsworth v. Perry,133 S.Ct. 786 (Dec. 7, 2012).
The Opposition seeks to denigrate this cases
optimal relationship to the fundamental marriage
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issue by making two arguments, both of which are
plainly wrong.
1. A states federal constitutional authority topreserve marriages man-woman meaning
does not turn on whether it has adopted a
domestic partnership arrangement.
The Opposition argues that Nevadas 2009
enactment of a domestic partnership arrangement
available to same-sex couples1 somehow rendered
unconstitutional the 2002 amendment to Nevadasconstitution that preserves marriages man-woman
meaning (Marriage Amendment). The Opposition
then argues that only a very small and possibly
shrinking number of states share Nevadas legal
landscape, that is, a legal landscape preserving
marriages man-woman meaning while providing
comprehensive domestic partnership or civil union
schemes available to same-sex couples. Thus, the
argument goes, this case will not resolve the
fundamental marriage issue. Oppn at 1112.
This narrow grounds argument makes sense
only if a states adoption or not of a domestic
partnership arrangement has any genuine
constitutional significance relative to the marriage
issue. It does not.
Forty-one states have elected to preserve by law
marriages man-woman meaning. See Pet. App. at
67a70a. Of those, eight have chosen to make
available to same-sex couples a domestic partnership
or similar arrangement. Oppn at 11. Of the thirty-three that have not yet made that choice, nineteen
1Domestic Partnership Act, Nev. Rev. Stat. 122A.010 et seq.
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have a constitutional provision precluding such an
arrangement. See Reply Pet. App. at 1a4a; see also
Pet. App. at 62a66a.2
The Oppositions narrow grounds argument
seems to have two facets: one, the domestic
partnership legislation somehow effectively
repudiates all the strong public interests advanced
by the man-woman marriage laws, leaving
thereafter those laws with an insufficiently strong
basis in policy; and, two, because all the legislature
or voters are doing with the man-woman marriage
laws is withholding from same-sex couples the mere
word marriage, the state cannot possibly have a good
reason for such a course, and therefore all that is at
work must be the kind of animus prohibited by
Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620 (1996).
Social institutional realities defeat both facets of
the argument.3 Because social institutions are
constituted by, and only by, complex webs of widely
shared public meanings and are created by language
acts, language creates the social reality that
marriage unquestionably is. Marriage is an
institution as fundamental, influential, and
consequential as any. Accordingly, the political/legal
power over the mere word marriage is a massive
2The chart in the Petition Appendix incorrectly identifies
Tennessee as such a state.3The Petition at 1521 and 2932 summarizes those realities,
and the Coalitions amicus curiae brief in Perry and Windsor
fleshes them out. Amicus Curiae Brief of Coalition for the
Protection of Marriage in Support of Hollingsworth andBipartisan Legal Advisory Group Addressing the Merits and
Supporting Reversal, Hollingsworth v. Perry, Nos. 12-144 and
12-307 (U.S. Jan. 29, 2013).
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power. That power flows from the laws expressive
effect and is reinforced by the laws coercive and
pedagogical powers:
The legal institution of marriage has the
expressive effect of socially recognizing,
promoting and dignifying the nature of the
relationships that the law deems eligible for
marriage. [T]he debate is about which rival
conception of sexual value and identity should
harness laws expressive effect and be
reinforced by the laws coercive and
pedagogical powers.4
Informed genderless marriage advocates know
this. One sees the role of the vocabulary in the
activities of revolutionary and reformist movements.
They try to get hold of the vocabulary in order to
alter the system . . . .5 Here the role of the
vocabulary, that is, the laws and hence societys use
of the mere word marriage, will determine the fate
of the childs bonding interest, of bionormativity in
the construction of parenthood, of natural rights in
family relations, of the statuses and identities of
husband and wife, and on and on. Accordingly, a
society cannot give up the mere word marriage
without giving up the man-woman marriage
institution and the valuable social goods that it
uniquely provides.
4
Matthew B. OBrien, Why Liberal Neutrality Prohibits Same-Sex Marriage: Rawls, Political Liberalism, and the Family , 1
Brit. J. Amer. L. Studies 411, 414 (2012).5John R. Searle, Making the Social World: The Structure of
Human Civilization 104 (2010).
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Certainly the preservation of those goods is the
wholly legitimate and compelling objective of the
man-woman marriage laws in Nevada and the forty
other states with such laws. That reality refutes the
animus facet of the Plaintiff Respondents
argument, built as it is on the false premise that a
state and its people have no substantial legitimate
reason to preserve the man-woman marriage
institution. That facet is further refuted by the
truth that
[t]he overwhelming international consensus
including among liberal western democracies
with established traditions of concern for the
rights of gays and lesbiansis that reserving
the formal institution of marriage to opposite-
sex couples while supporting same-sex couples
through other rights and legal mechanisms is
sound public policy. That consensus is based
not on irrationality, ignorance, or animus
toward gays and lesbians but on considered
judgments about the unique nature and needsof same-sex couples and children.6
The other facet of the argument for a society to
recognize domestic partnerships somehow destroys
its compelling interests in preserving man-woman
marriageis equally baseless. To create a domestic
partnership arrangement while still preserving
marriages man-woman meaning simultaneously
supports same-sex couples and insures the laws
continuing support for the man-woman marriage
6Amici Curiae Brief of Judge Georg Ress and the Marriage
Law Foundation in Support of Petitioners at 2, Hollingsworth
v. Perry, 133 S.Ct. 786(2012) (No. 12-144).
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institutionexactly for the purpose of preserving the
valuable social goods it uniquely provides. After all,
in both law and the public understanding a key
meaning of domestic partnership is not marriage.7
That not-marriage meaning is essential for the
perpetuation of the valuable social goods our existing
marriage institution uniquely providesgoods that a
genderless marriage regime cannot provide and
towards which it will be inimical.
In light of these realities, a states adoption (or
not) of a domestic partnership arrangement has no
genuine constitutional significance. Federal
constitutional jurisprudence does not and should not
take the silly position of countenancing, for example,
Utahs laws, which protect man-woman marriage
and prohibit domestic partnerships and similar
arrangements,8 while not countenancing Nevadas
laws protecting man-woman marriage and providing
domestic partnerships for same-sex couples. For
federal constitutional jurisprudence, the authentic
question for both Nevada and Utah and all statessituated like them must come down to the
fundamental marriage issue: Does a state have
sufficiently strong reasons and interests for
preserving the man-woman meaning constitutive
and at the core of our social institution of marriage?
Moreover, the Plaintiff Respondents own
arguments to the District Court refute their
assertion now that this cases sole issue is and
always has been the constitutionality of a man-
7See Monte Neil Stewart, Eliding in Washington and
California, 42 Gonz. L. Rev. 501, 510 n.40 (2007).8Utah Const. art. I, 29.
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woman marriage law in a legal context also
providing for a domestic partnership arrangement.
Their arguments have relied most heavily on the
assertion that the social sciences somehow prove
the societal interests advanced by the man-woman
marriage institution either to be weak or to not be
affected by implementation of a genderless marriage
regime, see Dkt. Nos. 86, 86-2, 86-3, 98, 98-1, 98-2,
rather than on the assertion that Nevadas Domestic
Partnership Act repudiates those interests. Their
primary assertion goes directly to the fundamentalmarriage issue and is not at all tied to the presence
or not of a domestic partnership arrangement.
Further, Plaintiff Respondents argument is
premised on the notion that a state statute
(Nevadas Domestic Partnership Act) can override
the policies and purposes of a state constitutional
provision (Nevadas Marriage Amendment) and
thereby render the latter unconstitutional. That
notion is clearly wrong. If the policy judgments of
one must give way, it must be those of the statute.The Domestic Partnership Act has no power to
repudiate the important social, governmental, and
personal interests protected and advanced by the
Marriage Amendment. SeeKing v. Bd. of Regents of
Univ. of Nevada, 200 P.2d 221, 225 (1948) (state
constitutions are limitations of the lawmaking
power and legislation cannot contravene some
expressed or necessarily implied limitation
appearing in the constitution itself).
Because it is built entirely on the never-provenand clearly wrong premise that implementation or
not of a domestic partnership arrangement has
constitutional significance, the Oppositions narrow
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grounds argument collapses entirely. This case
from Nevada really is optimal for resolving the
fundamental question. In important part, that is so
because this case cannot be resolved without
answering that question, and the answer will
certainly determine marriages fate in at least forty
states.
This correct understanding of this cases
connection to the fundamental marriage issue also
illuminates the weakness of the Oppositions
prudential argument against the Petition: this
Court should allow more time for lower courts to
consider, develop, and refine the issue. Oppn at
1213. However, already at least twenty-one state
appellate court decisions9 and thirteen federal court
decisions have addressed some aspect of the issue,
and the serious judicial and extrajudicial dialogue on
the issue has been going on for twenty years now.
Pet. at 14; Pet. App. at 59a61a. These realities
quite thoroughly undercut the Oppositions call for
more delay to get more lower court input.
9Although the state courts were interpreting equality and
liberty norms arising from state constitutions, in all materialrespects the issue and hence the judicial analysis were the
same as the issue and analysis in the federal context. See, e.g.,
Monte Neil Stewart, Judicial Redefinition of Marriage, 21 Can.
J. Fam. L. 11, 2829 (2004).
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2. The Coalition has Article III standing in itsown right, and, in any event, theMcConnell
piggy-back doctrine applies with full
force to the Petition.
The Oppositions second attack on this cases
optimal status is to assert that the Coalition does
not have Article III standing and that this asserted
lack of standing precludes the Coalition from alone
filing the Petition. The Opposition also argues that
the McConnell piggy-back doctrine10 somehow
does not operate in the context of 28 U.S.C.
1254(1), which provides that any party may file a
petition for writ of certiorari before judgment.11
This case has always qualified as a case or
controversy under Article III. Without question,
the Plaintiff Respondents, on one hand, and the
Government Respondents, on the other hand, each
have Article III standing because the members of
the former group are seeking to vindicate what they
see as their personal federal constitutional rights
and thus are seeking to impose a coercive judgment
on the members of the latter group, with at least
two of the Government Respondents (Governor
Sandoval and Clerk-Recorder Glover) actively and
consistently opposing such a judgment. See Dkt.
Nos. 74, 85, 96, 97.
Further, this case is one case and always has
been. It has not divided amoeba-like to create one
10
See McConnell v. Fed. Election Commn, 540 U.S. 93, 233(2003), overruled in part on other grounds by Citizens United v.
Fed. Election Commn, 558 U.S. 310 (2010).11See Eugene Gressman et al., Supreme Court Practice 2.52.4
(9th ed. 2007).
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case in the District Court, another case in the Court
of Appeals, and yet another case in this Court. It is
one case with its genuine parties and its genuine
controversy. (We note this because the Opposition
seems to characterize the case here as somehow
different and separate from the case in the Court of
Appeals, with resulting confusion of analysis on the
standing issue. SeeOppn at 710.)
As to genuine parties, the Coalition is every bit as
much a party to this case as any of its other parties.
That is the logic and operation of Federal Rule of
Civil Procedure 24, especially where, as here, the
District Courts order made the Coalition a party
without any conditions or restrictions on its
involvement in the case. Dkt. No. 67.
No standing or other justiciability issue hampers
this case, either in general or in connection with the
Petition. It is uncontested that this case contains
parties on both sides with standing, and the parties
are genuinely adverse and are litigating accordingly.
The Oppositions effort to cloud that reality should
get no traction.
The Coalition has its own Article III standing on
four independent and individually adequate
grounds. One, the Coalition has a real, concrete, and
highly particularized reputational interest at stake
here. The Plaintiff Respondents have made in this
case the standard animus/bigotry arguments and
focused them with particularly on the Coalition,
even before the Coalition was a party. It is not the
Government Respondents who have been the targetsof the animus/bigotry arguments; rather, the target
has been the Coalition because of its unique role as
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the leader of the campaign in favor of the Marriage
Amendment and as the primary source of the
campaign ads. See Dkt. Nos. 1 at 9; 30 at 13. Such a
particularized reputational interest at stake in this
context sustains Article III standing. E.g., In re
McElrath, 248 F.2d 612, 616 (D.C. Cir. 1957). Two
and three, as established in the District Court, see
Dkt. No. 30 at 1315, the Coalition has associational
standing relative to its members particularized
interests both in the perpetuation of the man-woman
marriage institution and its unique social goods andin specific religious liberties put in genuine jeopardy
by a move to a genderless marriage regime. Id.
Four, as proponent of the Marriage Amendment, the
Coalition under Nevada law stands in the same
relationship to this case as the Petitioners in Perry
under California law have in that case, with only the
difference that some Nevada officials are actively
opposing the plaintiffs claims.
The McConnellpiggy-back doctrine applies with
full force to the Petition, and the Oppositionssuggestions to the contrary are clearly wrong. First,
in this case, unlike Windsor, the government officials
whose standing matters for purposes of the doctrine
have since the beginning of the case actively and
continuously opposed the plaintiffs claims; those
officials are Governor Sandoval and Clerk-Recorder
Glover. They have not opposed the Petition and
continue to actively oppose the Plaintiff
Respondents claims.
Second, Diamond v. Charles, 476 U.S. 54 (1986),clearly does not apply here. There,
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[b]y not appealing the judgment below, the
State indicated its acceptance of that decision,
and its lack of interest in defending its own
statute. The States general interest may be
adverse to the interests of appellees, but its
failure to invoke our jurisdiction leaves the
Court without a case or controversy
between appellees and the State of Illinois.
Id. at 6364. In contrast, here Nevada has not
accepted, and thereby declined to contest further, an
adverse judgment; rather, it (through the Governor
and the Clerk-Recorder) continues to defend the
Marriage Amendment against the Plaintiff
Respondents claims.
The only question is where the next round of the
litigation will occur, here or in the Court of Appeals.
Either place, this case will fully qualify as an Article
III case or controversy because, in either place, the
concrete interests and actual adversity of the parties
will be exactly the same. That reality is not altered
by the fact that it was the Coalition rather than
some other party that invoked the right of any
party to seek to have the next round of the contest
here instead of in the Court of Appeals. See 28
U.S.C. 1254(1).
As to the wisdom of the next round being here
instead of in the Court of Appeals, the fundamental
marriage issue has been fully ventilated, developed,
and refined, both judicially and extrajudicially, over
the past twenty years; the issue is one of surpassing
importance and consequence; and the Nation itseems to us is understandably anxious to have this
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Court resolve that issue now. This case is optimal
for resolving that issue.
3. The Oppositions discussion of grant,vacate, and remand has no application to
this case or to the Petition.
With all due respect, the Oppositions discussion
of GVR has no application to this case or to the
Petition.
The Courts options are:
Hold the Petition pending resolution ofPerry and/or Windsor;
Grant the Petition and expedite briefingand argument (if there is to be any) so as to
resolve this case this Term;
Grant the Petition and set the case forargument next Term; or
Deny the Petition, in which event this casewill proceed in the Court of Appeals.
The Coalition urges the second option.
Respectfully submitted,
MONTE NEIL STEWARTCounsel of Record
CRAIG G.TAYLORDANIEL W.BOWERBELNAP STEWART TAYLOR &MORRIS PLLC12550 W. Explorer Drive, Suite 100Boise, Idaho 83713(208) 345-3333
February 14, 2013
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APPENDIX I
LANGUAGE OF STATE CONSTITUTIONAL
BANS ON DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIPS AND
OTHER NON-MARITAL UNIONS
Alabama: 2006; A union replicating marriage of or
between persons of the same sex in the state of
Alabama or in any other jurisdiction shall beconsidered and treated in all respects as having no
legal force of effect in this state and shall not be
recognized by this state as a marriage or other union
replicating marriage Ala. Const. amdt. 774.
Arkansas: 2004; Legal status for unmarried
persons which is identical or substantially similar to
marital status shall not be valid or recognized in
Arkansas Ark Const. amend. LXXXII, 1.
Florida: 2008; Inasmuch as marriage is the legalunion of only one man and one woman as husband
and wife, no other legal union that is treated as
marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall
be valid or recognized. Fla. Const. art. I, 27.
Georgia: 2004; This state shall not give effect to
any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any
other state or jurisdiction respecting a relationship
between persons of the same sex that is treated as a
marriage under the laws of such other state orjurisdiction. Ga. Const. art. I, 4 1.
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Idaho: 2006; A marriage between a man and a
woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be
valid or recognized in this state. Idaho Const., Art.
III, sec. 28.
Kansas: 2005; No relationship, other than a
marriage, shall be recognized by the state as
entitling the parties to the rights or incidents of
marriage. Kan. Const. art. XV, 16.
Kentucky: 2004; A legal status identical or
substantially similar to that of marriage for
unmarried individuals shall not be valid or
recognized. Kentucky Const., 233A.
Louisiana: 2004; A legal status identical or
substantially similar to that of marriage for
unmarried individuals shall not be valid or
recognized. La. Const. art. XII, 15.
Michigan: 2004; To secure and preserve the
benefits of marriage for our society and for future
generations of children, the union of one man and
one woman in marriage shall be the only agreement
recognized as a marriage or similar union for any
purpose. Mich. Const. art. I, 25.
Nebraska: 2000; The uniting of two persons of the
same sex in a civil union, domestic partnership, or
other similar same-sex relationship shall not bevalid or recognized in Nebraska. Neb. Const. art. I,
29.
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North Dakota: 2004; No other domestic union,
however denominated, may be recognized as a
marriage or given the same or substantially
equivalent legal effect. N.D. Const. art. XI, 28.
Ohio: 2004; This state and its political subdivisionsshall not create or recognize a legal status for
relationships of unmarried individuals that intends
to approximate the design, qualities, significance oreffect of marriage. Ohio Const. art. XV, 11
Oklahoma: 2004; Neither this Constitution nor
any other provision of law shall be construed to
require that marital status or the legal incidents
thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or
groups. Okla. Const. art. II, 35.
South Carolina: 2006; A marriage between one
man and one woman is the only lawful domestic
union that shall be valid or recognized in this State.This State and its political subdivisions shall not
create a legal status, right or claim respecting any
other domestic union, however denominated. This
State and its political subdivisions shall not
recognize or give effect to a legal status, right or
claim created by another jurisdiction respecting any
other domestic union, however denominated.
Nothing in this section shall impair any right or
benefit extended by the State or its political
subdivisions other than a right or benefit arisingfrom a domestic union that is not valid or recognized
in this State. This section shall not prohibit or limit
parties, other than the State or its political
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subdivisions, from entering into contracts or other
legal instruments. S.C. Const. art. XVII, 15.
South Dakota: 2006; The uniting of two or more
persons in a civil union, domestic partnership, or
other quasi-marital relationship shall not be valid or
recognized. S.D. Const. art. XXI, 9.
Texas: 2005; This state or a political subdivision ofthis state may not create or recognize any legal
status identical or similar to marriage. Texas Const.
Art. I, 32.
Utah: 2004; No other domestic union, however
denominated, may be recognized as a marriage or
given the same or substantially equivalent legal
effect. Utah Const., Art. I, 29.
Virginia: 2006; This Commonwealth and its
political subdivisions shall not create or recognize alegal status for relationships of unmarried
individuals that intends to approximate the design,
qualities, significance, or effects of marriage. Nor
shall this Commonwealth or its political subdivisions
create or recognize another union, partnership, or
other legal status to which is assigned the rights,
benefits, obligations, qualities, or effects of
marriage. Virginia Const., Art. I, 15-A.
Wisconsin: 2006;
Only a marriage between oneman and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a
marriage in this state. A legal status identical or
substantially similar to that of marriage for
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unmarried individuals shall not be valid or
recognized in this state. Wisconsin Const., Art. XIII,
13. Cf. Appling v. Doyle, 2012 WL 6633863 (Wisc.
Ct. App., Dec. 20, 2012) (publication decision
pending) (noting that Wisconsins limited domestic
partnership law does not violate Wisconsins
Constitution.).