Same-Sex Marriage Plaintiffs Fight Appeal to Third Circuit

Even though a trial date has been set in the first case in which plaintiffs are challenging Pennsylvania's ban on same-sex marriage, Governor Tom Corbett's administration is appealing to the Third Circuit on the applicability of U.S. Supreme Court precedent, Baker v. Nelson, on the Pennsylvania case, The Legal Intelligencer's Saranac Hale Spencer reports. In 1971, the Supreme Court upheld a five-page Minnesota Supreme Court opinion that the federal Constitution does not protect a fundamental right for same-sex couples to get married for "'want of a substantial federal question,'" according to SCOTUSblog's Lyle Denniston. The Supreme Court has not yet declared if there is a fundamental right for same-sex couples to get married.

U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III of the Middle District of Pennsylvania, however, rejected the idea that Baker still has precedential value: "'The Supreme Court has decided several cases since Baker which demonstrate that it no longer views constitutional challenges based on sex or sexual identity classifications as unsubstantial,'" The Legal reports.