News from the Senate Majority
Alaska State Legislature

Wendy Lindskoog, Senate Majority Press Secretary
State Capitol
Juneau, AK 99801-1182
Phone: 907/465-4582
http://www.akrepublicans.org
Broadcast Actualities: 800/478-6540

Senate Asks Supreme Court to Review Decision in Marriage Case

For Immediate Release: March 12, 1998. Contact: Mike Pauley, Assistant to Senator Loren Leman, at (907) 465-3841.

Juneau – The Senate today unanimously approved a resolution asking the Alaska Supreme Court to review a decision by a lower court judge who suggested it was unconstitutional for Alaska not to grant marriage licenses to couples of the same sex.

"No other court in Alaska, the United States, or any country in the world that I am aware of, has ever found a fundamental right, based on privacy, for individuals of the same sex to be granted marriage licenses," stated Senator Loren Leman, Vice-Chairman of the Senate HESS Committee, which sponsored Senate Concurrent Resolution 25.

Leman noted that the Department of Law filed a petition with the Supreme Court on March 9 requesting a review of Judge Michalski’s decision: "This is a discretionary matter for the Supreme Court – they can accept the state’s request, or they can deny it. Because of the enormous legal and cultural issues involved in this decision, we believe it is crucial for the Supreme Court to grant the state’s request."

In a statement on the Senate floor, Leman expressed disappointment that the Legislature is being forced to deal with this issue once again. "We would not be in this situation if the court had respected the prerogatives of this Legislature, which in 1996 enacted Senate Bill 308, defining marriage as being only a union of one man and one woman," Leman stated. "I agree with Judge Kleinfeld on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, who wrote ‘The Founding Fathers did not establish the United States as a democratic republic so that elected officials would decide trivia, while all great questions would be decided by the judiciary.’ The meaning of marriage truly qualifies as one of the ‘great questions’ of our time. It should be decided by the people and their elected representatives, not by one unelected and unaccountable judge."

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= Loren Leman, 83 K