ADF defends Wis. marriage amendment against renewed attack

MADISON, Wis. — Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund filed a friend-of-the-court brief Monday on behalf of the Wisconsin Family Council to protect the Wisconsin marriage amendment after an appeal was filed challenging its constitutionality.

"Judges, politicians, and activists should never impose a system that deliberately deprives a child of a mom and a dad," said ADF Litigation Counsel Jim Campbell. "The court should always put the interests of families above those of activists creatively scheming to declare Wisconsin's marriage amendment unconstitutional."

After 59 percent of Wisconsin voters approved the state's marriage amendment in November 2006, University of Wisconsin professor William McConkey filed the lawsuit McConkey v. Doyle against the governor in July 2007, challenging the amendment's constitutionality.

ADF attorneys filed previous friend-of-the-court briefs arguing that the amendment dealt with only one subject--preserving and protecting the institution of marriage--and therefore did not violate the procedural requirements for enacting a state constitutional provision. In May 2008, a Dane County Circuit judge issued the governor a favorable ruling, declaring that the amendment did not violate state law because its purpose was "the preservation of the unique and historical status of marriage".

McConkey appealed the circuit court's decision in the lawsuit, renamed McConkey v. Van Hollen for current Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, arguing again that the marriage amendment violates the state's constitution.

Wisconsin Family Council is represented in the case by ADF attorneys and ADF-allied attorney Amy Salberg of the Milwaukee law firm Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek, S.C.

Wisconsin Family Council has stated that it believes that activists shouldn’t put children at risk in order to pursue their own selfish desires.  According to Salberg, “The client’s position is that citizens are hurt when judges take away their vote and silence their voice.”

A copy of the friend-of-the-court brief filed with the State of Wisconsin Court of Appeals, District IV, is available here.

ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.

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