Pennsylvania Governor Declines Appeal of Federal Same Sex Marriage Ruling

Unlike here in Michigan where the Attorney General has successfully stayed federal judge Bernard Friedman's ruling striking down Michigan's constitutional provision banning same-sex marriages, Governor Tom Corbett announced last week that Pennsylvania will not challenge a similar federal judge's ruling on same-sex marriage.

This makes Pennsylvania the 19th state, along with the District of Colombia, to allow same-sex marriages. Pennsylvania's constitutional ban has been on the books since 1996; federal judge John Jones ruled the ban unconstitutional.

Not surprisingly, politics affected the outcome in the Pennsylvania case.  Governor Tom Corbett is embroiled in a tough re-election campaign and is thought to be vulnerable to his Democratic challenger in this fall's general election. This is compounded by the fact that the Governor has a Democrat as his Attorney General who has gone on record stating Pennsylvania's ban is unconstitutional.

The interesting thing for us over here at the Law Blogger is the fast pace of the litigation now pending in nearly every state in the union.  The ultimate civil rights showdown, however, awaits the marble steps and pillars of the SCOTUS; perhaps in the term after next.

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