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Tags: Gay marriage | Family Research Council | Equality Florida | Supreme Court

Peter Sprigg: Court's Non-Decision on Gay Marriage Akin to 'Politicking'

By Melissa Clyne | Tuesday, 07 October 2014 11:46 AM EDT

"Judicial politicking" is the reason the Supreme Court declined to hear appeals from five states that oppose same-sex marriage, Family Research Council senior fellow Peter Sprigg said Tuesday on Newsmax TV’s "America’s Forum."

"It seems like they are trying to let facts on the ground develop that might result in greater acceptance of same-sex marriage before they issue a ruling," Sprigg said.

"It’s good that they may have learned the lesson of Roe vs. Wade, that it’s a mistake for the Supreme Court to step in and decide a controversial social issue, but it was cowardly for them not to take a stance when the constitutional issues are clearly defined now."

Sprigg was joined by Stratton Pollitzer, deputy director of Equality Florida, to discuss the high court’s decision not to address the issue, which likely will result in overriding dozens of states’ laws and amendments banning same-sex marriage.

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Pollitzer characterized the non-decision as a "victory."

"Any time that 52 million Americans and 11 more states are going to have access to marriage equality, we see that as an enormous victory," he said. "We're going to stop counting how many states have marriage and from here on out we're going to be counting how many don't."

Sprigg cautioned that regardless of the high court’s actions, the issue will not be sidelined.

"What it guarantees is that this debate, which some people were predicting would be over within a year’s time, is going to continue," Sprigg said. "Those who believe in natural marriage between one man and one woman will continue to contest this issue in the courts in the areas of the country where a final decision has not been reached.

"We will have more positive rulings for one-man-one-woman marriage laws such as the one we had in Louisiana, and this debate will continue both in the courts and in the court of public opinion."

Pollitzer predicts the outcome of the court’s decision not to take any of the marriage equality cases will result in all 50 states allowing it.

"It just makes sense to average people that this cannot stand," he said. "This world in which a huge percentage of our citizens in this country are married and then cross the state line and are unmarried and the legal chaos that that's creating. It just can't stand.

"What we think is going to happen now is across this country there are many of these cases where the decision has been stayed, and even though they've decided in our favor, they're not allowing people to get married and the reason that folks thought the Supreme Court was likely to take this up immediately and that we would have a 50-state solution very soon.

"Now that that's not happening, now that we have this timeline with no certain end," Pollitzer added, "many of those courts are going to begin lifting those stays and that some of the officials, like our attorney general and (Florida) Gov. Rick Scott, who have also said they wanted to hear from the Supreme Court, they've heard now and we're going to see more of those folks abandoning these hopeless appeals the way some attorney generals and governors across this country have already done.

"We think we'll actually see marriage legal in more places faster."

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