Brumfield – State marriage law may face tests
Gay Mississippians still will not be allowed to marry here despite Wednesday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down a federal law that defined marriage as the union between a man and a woman.
Mississippi also will not be required to recognize same-sex marriages from other states.
But the decision opens up the possibility of attacks against such state prohibitions, said legal authorities.
“This decision is massive,” said George Cochran, constitutional law professor at the University of Mississippi Law Center.
“Justice Kennedy talks about the fundamental right against state discrimination on sexual preference,” he added, saying he expects a new wave of legal challenges to state bans on same-sex marriage.
Mississippi voters banned same-sex marriage in 2004 with passage of a constitutional amendment.
Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
6/27/13
