Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is pushing the state Supreme Court to dismiss a lawsuit against his office by same-sex marriage opponents, saying the court does not have jurisdiction in the case.
According to the
Columbus Dispatch, the Ohio Campaign to Protect Marriage is challenging DeWine’s decision last year to approve the wording of a ballot amendment that would allow gay couples to marry.
But DeWine says the court has no jurisdiction over the pre-certification process for a proposed constitutional amendment. That responsibility, he argues, lies with the attorney general only.
DeWine spokeswoman Lisa Hackley said the attorney general believes that marriage should be between a man and a woman only, and was simply fulfilling his responsibility to verify petition signatures to get the marriage amendment placed on the 2013 ballot.
But the Campaign to Protect Marriage group claims the certification language “is not a fair and truthful statement of the proposed constitutional amendment.”
If approved by voters, the so-called freedom-to-marry amendment would allow marriages between two people, regardless of gender. Religious organizations, however, will have the right not to perform or recognize same-sex unions.
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