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Agudath Israel of America Amicus Brief - Mass DOMA Cases
Agudath Israel of America Amicus Brief - Mass DOMA Cases
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Abba Cohen
Russell D. Raskin* AGUDATH ISRAEL OF AMERICA
RASKIN & BERMAN 1730 Rhode Island Avenue
116 East Manning Street Washington, D.C. 20036
Providence, RI 02906 202-835-0414
(401) 421 1363 x 19
--and--
Mordechai Biser
AGUDATH ISRAEL OF AMERICA
42 Broadway
New York, NY 10004
(212) 797-9000
* Counsel of Record
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CORPORATE DISCLOSURE STATEMENT ....................................................... iii
I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................3
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TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
Cases Page
1568 Montgomery Highway, Inc. v. City of Hoover, 45 So. 3d 319 (Ala. 2010) ...12
Andersen v. King County, 158 Wash. 2d 1, 37, 138 P.3d 963, 983 (2006) ……...21
Gill v. Office of Pers. Mgmt., 699 F. Supp. 2d 374 (D. Mass. 2010) ……….…….3
Goodridge v. Dep't of Pub. Health, 440 Mass. 309, 798 N.E.2d 941(2003) …..…21
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Lofton v. Sec'y of Dept. of Children & Family Servs., 358 F.3d 804 (11th Cir.
2004) ………………………………………………………………………………9
Massachusetts v. U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Servs., 698 F. Supp. 2d 234 (D.
Mass. 2010) ……………..…………………………………………….…………..3
Planned Parenthood of Se. Pa. v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992) ………………....10
Reliable Consultants, Inc. v. Earle, 517 F.3d 738 (5th Cir. 2008) .……………....12
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Other Authorities
Defense of Marriage Act of 1996: Hearing on S. 1740 Before the Senate Judiciary
Comm., 104th Cong. (1996) (statement of David Zwiebel, General Counsel,
Agudath Israel of America) ……………………………………………………….1
Lynne Marie Kohm, The Homosexual “Union”: Should Gay and Lesbian
Partnerships be Granted the Same Status as Marriage?, 22 J. Contemp. L. 51, 61
& nn. 53, 54 (1996) ………………………………………….…………………...25
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Roland J.Chilton & Gerald E. Markle, Family Disruption, Delinquent Conduct and
the Effect of Subclassification, 37 Am. Soc. Rev. 93, 95 (1972) ………...……...27
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grassroots Orthodox Jewish organization with constituents all across the United
through DOMA dates back to the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on the then
marriages . . . would obscure further the vital link between marriage and children .
. . [and] convey the messages that childbearing and childrearing are matters
1740 Before the Senate Judiciary Comm., 104th Cong. (1996) (statement of David
Zwiebel, General Counsel, Agudath Israel of America). The decision of the court
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ramifications of such a ruling extend far beyond the current same-sex marriage
debate; it would affect the legal underpinnings of many, if not all, similar morality-
well, our focus as amicus curiae will be primarily on the narrow, but fundamental,
issue of the constitutionally proper role of public morality in the legislative process
of lawmaking.
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INTRODUCTION
The district court asserted two constitutional bases for striking down the
Mgmt., 699 F. Supp. 2d 374, 377 (D. Mass. 2010) and federalism restrictions
Massachusetts v. U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Servs., 698 F. Supp. 2d 234, 238
(D. Mass. 2010). In the equal protection analysis, the court held that there was no
according to the court, totally devoid of any rationale. We respectfully urge this
the notion that society‘s long-held moral traditions constitute a rational basis on
which to enact legislation. It also emphasizes the broader stakes that are affected
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by the court‘s ruling on this issue. Section B shows why marriage consisting of a
man and a woman is critical to the procreation and healthy upbringing of children,
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ARGUMENT
In its equal protection analysis of DOMA, the district court could not fathom
a single ―fairly conceivable set of facts that could ground a rational relationship
Mgmt., 699 F. Supp. 2d 374, 387 (D. Mass. 2010) (internal quotations and citations
omitted). The court held that ―the objective of defending traditional notions of
morality‖ was not a sufficiently rational reason to sustain a law passed by the
majority of Congress. Id. at 389. This holding was based on the court‘s cursory
reading of Lawrence v. Texas’, 539 U.S. 558, 577 (2003), statement that ―the fact
that the governing majority in a State has traditionally viewed a particular practice
review of Lawrence, and the case law that preceded and succeeded that decision,
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clearly shows that morality considerations remain a legitimate rational basis for
The Supreme Court has long held that ―[t]here is unquestionably a control in
the states over the morals of their citizens . . . .‖ Hoke v. United States, 227 U.S.
308, 321 (1913) (upholding federal laws against prostitution and finding that the
―powers reserved to the states and those conferred on the nation are . . . to promote
the general welfare, material and moral‖) (emphasis added). The Court accepted
that ―a legislature could legitimately act on such a conclusion to protect ‗the social
interest in order and morality.‘‖ Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton, 413 U.S. 49, 61
(1973) (quoting Roth v. United States, 354 U.S. 476, 485 (1957)) (upholding
power of the States is defined as the authority to provide for the public health,
safety, and morals, and we have upheld such a basis for legislation.‖ Barnes v.
Glen Theatre, Inc., 501 U.S. 560, 569 (1991) (upholding indecency statute against
order and morality is clear from its text and history.‖) (emphasis added).
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from equal protections violations. The Court so held in Bowers v. Hardwick, 478
U.S. 186, 196 (1986) and was not overruled in this respect by Lawrence v. Texas,
539 U.S. 558 (2003). In Bowers, the Court explicitly held that a belief by the
majority of the electorate that homosexual behavior was immoral was adequate
Bowers, 478 U.S. at 196 (―The law, however, is constantly based on notions of
morality, and if all laws representing essentially moral choices are to be invalidated
under the Due Process Clause, the courts will be very busy indeed.‖) .
Although the Court later overruled Bowers in Lawrence, the above holding
of Bowers was not overruled, and remains binding law. Lawrence overruled
Bowers and held that the state could not justify the criminalization of homosexual
acts solely based on moral grounds. Lawrence 539 U.S. at 571 (―The issue is
whether the majority may use the power of the State to enforce these views on the
whole society through operation of the criminal law.‖); id. at 577 (morality
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concerns are ―not a sufficient reason for upholding a law prohibiting the practice.‖
) (emphasis added).
But Lawrence did not hold that moral considerations must be totally
confined to whether moral considerations are sufficient grounds for the state to
prohibit certain acts using criminal law; it did not hold that moral considerations
crafting law. Indeed, Lawrence itself clearly differentiated between laws ―making
private sexual conduct a crime,‖ and laws giving ―formal recognition to any
relationship that homosexual persons seek to enter.‖ Lawrence, 539 U.S. at 578
(emphasis added); See also, Hernandez v. Robles, 7 N.Y.3d 338, 855 N.E.2d 1, 18
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Dept. of Children & Family Servs., 358 F.3d 804, 817 (11th Cir. 2004)
relevant state action is not criminal prohibition, but grant of a statutory privilege.
And the asserted liberty interest is not the negative right to engage in private
conduct without facing criminal sanctions, but the affirmative right to receive
Laws that prohibit private conduct, such as those in Lawrence, are subject to
a higher level of scrutiny than laws that merely confer an official recognition of a
valuable social entity, such as DOMA. The reason for the different treatment is that
laws prohibiting private conduct impinge on the Due Process right to liberty, see
Lawrence, 539 U.S. at 578 (―Their right to liberty under the Due Process Clause
gives them the full right to engage in their conduct without intervention of the
government.‖), while laws that confer privileges do not restrict a person‘s Due
Process liberty interests, and thus, need only conform to equal protections
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reasonable people disagree the government can adopt one position or the other.
That theorem, however, assumes a state of affairs in which the choice does not
intrude upon a protected liberty.‖ Planned Parenthood of Se. Pa. v. Casey, 505
U.S. 833, 851 (1992) (internal citations omitted.); see also, United States v.
Stagliano, 693 F. Supp. 2d 25, 38 (D.D.C. 2010) (―Although public morality may
certainly a sufficient justification for regulating the sort of public conduct at issue
uphold criminal sodomy laws in a Due Process liberty analysis does not mean that
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Liberty rights may only be limited if there is a ―compelling state interest, and th[e]
legislative enactments must be narrowly drawn to express only the legitimate state interests at
stake.‖ Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 155 (1973) (internal citations and quotations omitted.); see
also Carey v. Population Services, Int'l, 431 U.S. 678, 688-89 (1977). Equal protection rights,
on the other hand, will pass constitutional muster as long as the law ―neither burdens a
fundamental right nor targets a suspect class‖ and ―bears a rational relation to some legitimate
end‖ Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620, 631, (1996); see also, e.g., Heller v. Doe, 509 U.S. 312,
319-320 (1993).
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morality considerations are cast aside in an equal protection context. This Court
has previously confirmed that ―the Lawrence Court explicitly declined to base its
ruling on equal protection principles, even though that issue was presented.‖ Cook
v. Gates, 528 F.3d 42, 61 (1st Cir. 2008) (holding that the ―Don‘t Ask, Don‘t Tell‖
Many other courts have also affirmed the continuing vitality of moral
in Williams v. Morgan, 478 F.3d 1316, 1318 (11th Cir. 2007), considered ―whether
public morality remains a sufficient rational basis for [a] challenged statute after
the Supreme Court‘s decision in Lawrence.‖ The case involved a legislative ban
against the sale of certain sexual devices. After an extensive analysis the court
held that:
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Id. The court declined to accept the abandonment of morality in our legislative
system because ―[o]ne would expect the Supreme Court to be manifestly more
specific and articulate than it was in Lawrence if now such a traditional and
of Hoover, 45 So. 3d 319, 345 (Ala. 2010) also held that ―post Lawrence, public
morality can still serve as a legitimate rational basis‖ for regulating laws that are
not a private activity. See also id. at 341(― to the extent that Lawrence rejected
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Although the Fifth Circuit in Reliable Consultants, Inc. v. Earle, 517 F.3d 738, (5th Cir. 2008)
disagreed with the Eleventh Circuit and held that a ban on certain sexual devices could not be
sustained based on morality interests, that holding does not affect the analysis of the case at
hand. Reliable Consultants dealt with a law prohibiting a privacy right under Due Process
analysis, id. at 746 (―. . . our analysis is on the burden the statute puts on the individual‘s right to
make private decisions about consensual intimate conduct‖), while this case concerns no such
right, but rather, the statutory grant of public recognition of a moral institution. Just as Lawrence
was confined to a state prohibition of a liberty interest, the same is true of Reliable Consultants.
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Not only do morality interests satisfy a rational basis review, they are also a
U.S. at 569 (cited by Lofton v. Sec'y of Dept. of Children & Family Servs., 358
F.3d 804, 827 (11th Cir. 2004)) (emphasis added). In Lofton, a post Lawrence
case, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals noted that ―the State‘s interest in
has been recognized that the government‘s interest in preserving social morality is
individuals to marry whom they please have consistently been upheld by the courts
– despite the fact that, as the Court has recognized on numerous occasions (e.g.,
Massachusetts Board of Retirement v. Murgia, 427 U.S. 307, 312, 314, (1976)),
the right to marry is a fundamental right, and statutes that interfere with that right
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v. Hill, 125 U.S. 190, 205 (1888): ―Marriage, as creating the most important
relation in life, as having more to do with the morals and civilization of a people
than any other institution, has always been subject to the control of the
Zablocki v. Redhail, 434 U.S. 374, 399 (1978), to acknowledge that ―[t]he State,
interest in ensuring that its rules of domestic relations reflect the widely held
categories of people based on nothing more than morality concerns alone. Judge
307 (D.C.App. 1995), makes the point well. Citing as an example the District of
Columbia‘s law against ―a man‘s marrying his son‘s wife or a woman marrying her
stepfather,‖ Judge Ferren (in a section of his opinion joined by the two other
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members of the D.C. Court of Appeals panel) pinpointed social morality as a self-
sufficient basis for consanguinity laws that prohibit marriages among certain
relatives even though their unions pose no dangers of biological inbreeding. ―The
A.2d at 313.
enhanced by a free exercise claim. Thus, in Potter v. Murray City, 760 F.2d 1065
(10th Cir.), cert. denied 474 U.S. 849 (1985), at issue was the First Amendment
prohibition against polygamy. The Tenth Circuit duly noted that only a compelling
state interest could overcome the free exercise claim, Potter, 760 F.2d at 1068-69;
and that Utah had presented no empirical evidence that ―monogamy is superior to
polygamy.‖ Id. at 1069. The court nonetheless rejected the First Amendment
claim: ―Monogamy is inextricably woven into the fabric of our society. It is the
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bedrock upon which our culture is built. In light of these fundamental values, the
areas? The answer was well articulated by the English jurist Lord Patrick Devlin.
Transforming Moral Convictions Into Law, 98 Yale L.J. 1201 (1989); Michael J.
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It is clear from the foregoing analysis that the district court erred in its
respectfully urge this court to overrule the district court‘s holding and restore the
virtue of morality to the law of the First Circuit by, at the very least, affirming that
traditional moral norms are not irrational and do serve a legitimate governmental
interest.
The narrow issue before the Court is whether Congress may enact laws
defining marriage between a man and a woman. But, the broader issue is whether
states may enact any law that reflects and is designed to promote broadly held
views of public morality. That is because it will be difficult, if the Court devalues
limit the logic of any such ruling to the specific context of same-sex marriage; it
will inevitably be extended to require the state recognition all other morally-
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renounced relationships. This genie, once let out of the bottle, will not easily be
constrained.
withholding official recognition from incestuous couples, this court will be hard
pressed to sustain its constitutionality. A similar attack can be made against the
challenges against any, if not all, similar laws whose underpinnings are morality-
based. Let those who oppose such laws convince legislative bodies that the moral
3
See e.g., Romania Eyes Legalizing Consensual Incest, Wouldn't Be First Country
in Europe, Fox News, Mar. 21, 2009
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,510016,00.html, (last visited Jan. 17, 2011)
(―Three European Union nations — France, Spain and Portugal — do not
prosecute consenting adults for incest, and Romania is considering following
suit.‖).
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consensus once thought to underlie the laws no longer exists – much as they have
by now convinced the majority of state legislatures in the country to repeal their
anti-sodomy statutes. But, the courts should not ―solve the problem‖ by judicially
depriving those legislatures of the ability to pass legislation in the area of morality
raising healthy children. Gill v. Office of Pers. Mgmt., 699 F. Supp. 2d 374, 388
(D. Mass. 2010). The court noted that the government attorneys, whose job it is to
bearing.‖ Id. In abandoning this core basis of marriage, the defendants and the
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court have blindly ignored common sense, voluminous scholarly research, and
ample judicial precedent. This section will explain why preserving the marital
interest in helping to ensure that children are raised in the most optimal family
environment.
marriage is because society has always endorsed marriage even in cases where
spouses are incapable of conceiving children. See e.g., Lawrence v. Texas, 539
U.S. 558, 605 (2003) (Scalia, J., dissenting) (―what justification could there
not the encouragement of procreation, since the sterile and the elderly are allowed
to marry.‖).
The above argument confuses the reason for the institution of marriage with
the reason for an individual marriage; they are two distinct issues. While an
individual may choose to get married – i.e. utilize the institution of marriage- for
any number of reasons, the reason for the existence of the institution of marriage
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has only one primary reason– raising normal, well-adjusted children. For example,
a person may choose to marry purely for tax reasons, but that does not mean that
marriage was created as a means of saving taxes. Similarly, the fact that
individuals may marry without being able to achieve the primary objective of
marriage does not change the purpose of marriage itself. See also, Andersen v.
King County, 158 Wash. 2d 1, 37, 138 P.3d 963, 983 (2006) (―The fact[] that all
opposite-sex couples do not have children . . . do[es] not mean that limiting
under its union, also provides an important societal and educational function. It
stabilizes, and links the acts of procreation and child rearing.‖ Goodridge v. Dep't
of Pub. Health, 440 Mass. 309, 391, 798 N.E.2d 941, 1001-02 (2003) (Cordy, J.
dissenting). That the objective reason for marriage is procreation does not
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necessarily mean that the result of every marriage must meet that objective. The
achieved even if the result of an individual marriage does not achieve the stated
objective.
be gravely affected by changing its definition to include a union that abandons the
core element of marriage - the aspiration to create offspring and a raise a family.
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in society's ability to steer the acts of procreation and child rearing into their
most optimal setting.
Id.
There are many reasons why society, represented by the legislature, could
―manage procreation and the resultant child rearing.‖ Id. 440 Mass. at 392, 798
N.E.2d at 1003, n. 34. First, as a biblical and historic reason: the first time the
procreation. Genesis, 2:24 states: ―. . . a man shall leave his father and his mother
and cling to his wife and they shall become one flesh.‖ The Talmud – the
preeminent authoritative Jewish commentary on the Bible, written more than two
thousand years ago – explains the phrase ―to become one flesh‖ to refer to a
creating a child - something that encompasses the man and the woman in ―one
flesh.‖ Tractate Sanhedrin, 58a. Thus, the annotated verse states that a man shall
marry his wife to create a child. Notwithstanding the religious view of marriage,
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from a solely historic perspective of the Bible, it is evident that the primary
Andersen, 158 Wash. 2d 1, 138 P.3d 963, 978 (2006) (citing Skinner v. Oklahoma,
316 U.S. 535, 541 (1942) (―[m]arriage and procreation are fundamental to the very
existence and survival of the race.‖); Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1, 12 (1967)
(―[m]arriage is one of the ‗basic civil rights of man,‘ fundamental to our very
existence and survival‖); Zablocki v. Redhail, 434 U.S. 374, 386 (1978) (―the
decision to marry has been placed on the same level of importance as decisions
Maynard v. Hill, 125 U.S. 190, 211 (1888) (marriage is ―the foundation of the
family and of society, without which there would be neither civilization nor
progress‖)).
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A child, once created by a man and a woman, requires the continued input of
both its mother and father. As a matter of pure logic, it would follow that just as
both male and female input are needed to create a child, male and female input are
also required to raise a child in the most optimal fashion. ―Intuition and experience
suggest that a child benefits from having before his or her eyes, every day, living
models of what both a man and a woman are like.‖ Hernandez v. Robles, 7 N.Y.3d
338, 359, 855 N.E.2d 1, 7 (2006); see also, Goodridge, 440 Mass. at 381, 798
N.E.2d at 995 ( ―the institution of marriage has . . . brought order to the resulting
procreation, and ensured a stable family structure in which children will be reared,
educated, and socialized.‖). Allowing same-sex marriage will undermine the norm
of dual-gender parenting and will deprive children of the crucial necessity of male
Empirical scholarly research has also shown that opposite-sex couples are
best suited to raise children, and ―statistics continue to show that the most stable
Lynne Marie Kohm, The Homosexual “Union”: Should Gay and Lesbian
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& nn. 53, 54 (1996) (cited by Goodridge, 440 Mass. at 395, 798 N.E.2d at 1005
(2003)). Same-sex couples, on the other hand, necessarily will be lacking either a
father or mother, and will, therefore, deprive the child of a crucial parental figure.4
Andersen, 158 Wash. 2d at 82, 138 P.3d at 1006. The Supreme Court of
Washington found that that ―[s]tudies summarized in the record before one trial
court demonstrated that an absent father ‗is associated with quantifiable deficits in
children at every stage of the lifecycle, persisting not only in the adulthood of the
child, but even into the next generation.‘‖).5 Id. Based on these and other similar
4
Although there are many children that are raised by single parents, that does not mean that that
state has ―endorsed single parenthood as an optimal setting in which to raise children or views it
as the equivalent of being raised by both of one's biological parents.‖ Goodridge, 440 Mass. at
390, 798 N.E.2d at 1001. ―That the State does not preclude different types of families from
raising children does not mean that it must view them all as equally optimal and equally
deserving of State endorsement and support.‖ Id. 440 Mass. at 389, 798 N.E.2d at 1001.
5
―The assessment summarized: With respect to fatherlessness, quantifiable deficits occur in
literally every area of development-social, psychological, intellectual, educational, emotional,
relational, medical, even with respect to longevity, as well as with respect to sexuality, likelihood
of cigarette use, drug and alcohol abuse, age of onset of sexual activity and likelihood of teen or
earlier pregnancy.‖ Andersen, 158 Wash. 2d at 87, 138 P.3d at 1008, n. 43. (internal citations
omitted); see also Goodridge, 440 Mass. at 386 n. 23, 798 N.E.2d 941 (Cordy, J., dissenting) (
citing [H. Elaine] Rodney [ & Robert Mupier], Behavioral Differences between African
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Although some contradictory studies have shown opposite results hailing the
virtues of same-sex couples‘ parenting, this does not affect a rational basis
analysis. As long as there were some reasonable factual studies on which to base
DOMA, the district court should have upheld its constitutionality, even if the court
disagreed with the studies. See Heller v. Doe, 509 U.S. 312, 333 (1993) (―It could
be that the assumptions underlying these rationales are erroneous, but the very fact
American Male Adolescents with Biological Fathers and Those Without Biological Fathers in
the Home, 30 J. Black Stud. 45, 53 (1999) (African-American juveniles who lived with their
biological fathers displayed fewer behavioral problems than those whose biological fathers were
absent from home); [Roland J.] Chilton [ & Gerald E. Markle], Family Disruption, Delinquent
Conduct and the Effect of Subclassification, 37 Am. Soc. Rev. 93, 95 (1972) (proportion of youth
charged with juvenile offenses who were not living in husband-wife family was larger than
comparable proportion of youth charged with juvenile offenses who were living in husband-wife
family); [John P.] Hoffmann [ & Robert A. Johnson], A National Portrait of Family Structure
and Adolescent Drug Use, 60 J. Marriage & Fam. 633 (1998) (children from households with
both mother and father reported relatively low use of drugs, whereas children from households
without their natural mothers and from other family type households had highest prevalence of
drug use); D. BLANKENHORN, FATHERLESS AMERICA: CONFRONTING OUR MOST URGENT SOCIAL
PROBLEM 25 (1995)).
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economic policy, a statutory classification that neither proceeds along suspect lines
protection challenge if there is any reasonably conceivable state of facts that could
provide a rational basis for the classification.‖ F.C.C. v. Beach Commc’ns, Inc.,
The district court, by rejecting the aforementioned reasons for marriage, held
that there is not even a ―reasonably conceivable‖ argument that children would fare
better with a mother and a father than with two mothers or two fathers. Such a
bold assertion not only ignores legitimate arguments contrary to the court‘s
preferred ideology, but also grossly exceeds the bounds of judicial review. A
empirical studies, historical success rates, and public opinion—is solely within the
power of the democratically elected legislature. The districts court‘s foray into an
principles.
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assuring that every federally recognized marriage consists of a male and a female
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III
CONCLUSION
For the above mentioned reasons, amicus curiae Agudath Israel of America
respectfully urges that this case not be used to withdraw morality-based matters
January, 2011.
--and--
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CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE
Brief of Amici Curiae has been produced using the proportional font 14-point
Times New Roman. I also certify that this brief contains 5, 489 words, as
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Case: 10-2204 Document: 00116163993 Page: 41 Date Filed: 01/28/2011 Entry ID: 5522206
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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I hereby certify that on January 27, 2011, I electronically filed the foregoing with
the Clerk of the Court for the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
by using the appellate CM/ECF system. I further certify that all participants in the
case are registered CM/ECF users and will be served by the appellate CM/ECF
system.
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