American Family Association
Contact: Cindy Roberts ~ 662-844-5036

For Immediate Release:  5/13/2005

Overruling the voters, federal judge strikes down Neb. marriage amendment

(Tupelo, MS) - U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon struck down Nebraska’s marriage amendment Thursday ruling it unconstitutional and overruling 70 percent of the state’s voters who approved the amendment in November 2000.

“The court determined the amendment significantly burdened both the ‘expressive and intimate associational rights’ of homosexuals and ‘creates a significant barrier to the plaintiffs right to petition or to participate in the political process,’” said Brian Fahling, senior trial attorney for the AFA Center for Law & Policy.

“The outrageous character of the decision is summarized in the court’s assertion that the ‘intent and purpose of the amendment is based on animus against [homosexuals],’” Fahling said. “Not only is Judge Bataillon’s assertion demonstrably wrong, it is saturated with an all-too-familiar judicial contempt and antipathy for the moral norms of our culture. We are no longer permitted to govern ourselves in the most fundamental areas of life. Instead, we are called names by unelected judges who deconstruct our written constitution and our society with all the subtlety of a wrecking ball.”

According to Chairman of American Family Association, Donald Wildmon, this landmark ruling is evidence that the country desperately needs a federal marriage amendment and judges who are not activists.

“The action of Judge Bataillon is exactly the situation we have been warning the public about,” Wildmon said. “One federal activist judge has struck down the law passed with a 70 percent margin. This ruling shows the need for a national constitutional ban on homosexual marriage and the need to stop the liberal Democrats from enforcing their litmus test on judicial nominees through filibustering.”

“Liberal judges have usurped the rights of the people. It is time to kill the filibustering of the liberal Democrats,” Wildmon stated.

American Family Association is a pro-family advocacy organization with over two million online supporters.
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American Family Association
P.O. Box 2440
Tupelo, MS. 38803