Appling V Doyle: WI Supreme Court to weigh in on full meaning of marriage amendment

MADISON, Wis. —The Wisconsin Supreme Court has agreed to weigh in on the full meaning of Wisconsin’s marriage amendment and whether it authorizes the creation of other marriage-like unions.

Last year, a state appellate court decision upheld a lower court’s ruling that said the amendment permits the state legislature to create marriage-mimicking schemes despite language in the amendment that prohibits any “legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals.”

“Marriage–the union of husband and wife–is timeless, universal, and special; and it’s the foundation of every healthy, stable society. The people of Wisconsin recognize this, and that is why they approved a constitutional amendment that specifically protects marriage from all imitators,” said Julaine Appling, president of Wisconsin Family Action and one of the plaintiffs in the case. “The state’s domestic partnership scheme is precisely the type of marriage imitation that the voters intended to prevent.”

The lawsuit, Appling v. Doyle, was filed in Dane County Circuit Court in 2010 to stop then-Gov. Jim Doyle and the state legislature from skirting the language in the voter-approved constitutional amendment protecting marriage. Appling and five other individuals who are also members of the board of directors of Wisconsin Family Action are the plaintiffs in the case.

The “domestic partnership” plan, which Doyle proposed and signed into law after passage by the Legislature as part of the 2009-11 state budget, is only available to same-sex couples. “Domestic partners” receive “declarations” instead of “marriage licenses,” but otherwise, the procedures for creating the legal status of domestic partner is virtually the same as creating the legal status of married.

continue at Wisconsin Family Action

Photo