Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) filed suit Wednesday charging that 109 Massachusetts legislators acted illegally when they obstructed a vote on a proposed marriage amendment last month.
More than 170,000 people had signed a citizen's initiative petition requesting that lawmakers place on the 2008 ballot an amendment proposed by VoteOnMarriage.org to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
In early November, the state Legislature sidestepped action on the amendment when it voted 109-87 in favor of recessing a constitutional convention -- a move ADF said was unlawful. Article 48 of the Massachusetts Constitution says that the Legislature has a legal and constitutional duty to vote upon all citizen initiative amendments duly brought before them.
The lawsuit seeks $500,000 in legal fees and another $5 million in punitive damages from the 109 lawmakers.
Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute and spokesman for VoteOnMarriage.org, said the suit would not have been necessary if elected officials had obeyed the law.
"The evidence is overwhelming that those in the Massachusetts Legislature who continue to recess the constitutional convention," he said, "are doing so in an illegal effort to kill the marriage amendment by violating the state constitution."
Unless the marriage amendment receives a vote by Jan. 2, 2007 -- the final day of the legislative session -- it will expire. In order to be placed on the 2008 ballot, the amendment must have the approval of one-fourth of legislature during both the 2006 and 2007 legislative sessions.
Glen Lavy, senior counsel for ADF, said wants the court to hold lawmakers personally liable for failure to uphold their duty.
"Elected officials should be held accountable when they deliberately violate the law," he said. "We're in big trouble if the individuals who have sworn to uphold the Constitution can willfully ignore it with impunity in office."
The lawsuit asks the court to require the Massachusetts Legislature to fulfill its constitutional duty to the citizens of Massachusetts by voting on the marriage amendment before it expires.
"If they do not, then they will be held accountable," Lavy said.
Gary Buseck, legal director of Gay and Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), said he doesn't think that courts will choose to intervene in matters of the Legislature.
"They are at the outer limits of plausibility," he told WHDH-TV. "To think that a federal court is going to intervene in a matter as state-specific as how legislators vote on an issue under a state constitution, I think, is close to laughable."
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said it is crucial to defend the constitutional right of the people of Massachusetts.
"ADF's lawsuit is a necessary step in restoring public confidence in our representative form of government," he said. "The legislators' attempt to kill the proposal and close out the year in hiding is just another sign of their acquiescence to the liberal-activist agenda endorsed by Massachusetts courts."
Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said historically the federal courts have not hesitated to step in when the civil rights of citizens were denied by the actions of a state government.
"The Massachusetts Legislature, through its outrageous avoidance of its state constitutional obligations in this case, has forfeited its right to be called a democratic institution as it has trampled the civil rights of its citizens," he said.
"In such a case, the federal courts have the authority to step in and vindicate the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of Massachusetts' citizens under the U.S. Constitution."
The federal courts have sufficient leeway to fashion a suitable remedy for civil rights violations, whether by fine, injunction or otherwise, Hausknecht said, in order to ensure that the violation ceases.
"It is absolutely critical for the future of democracy in Massachusetts that the federal courts get involved in this issue and right the wrongs committed by the Legislature," he added.
The ADF-VoteOnMarriage.org suit is not the only legal battle the Legislature must face. Gov. Mitt Romney, alongside 10 of the signers of the original citizen's petition, filed a similar suit last month. That suit seeks to force lawmakers into voting on the proposed constitutional amendment.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Learn more in the CitizenLink article "Romney Files Suit to Support Marriage Amendment."
