Sponsor Statement for SCR 25

Urging an Appeal and an Expeditious Decision on the Appeal of a Case Concerning Mmarriage

SCR 25 expresses the Legislature’s support for the traditional definition of marriage as a legal union of one man and one woman, and urges the Governor, through the Department of Law, to utilize all available resources to appeal Superior Court Judge Peter Michalski’s Feb. 27 ruling in the case of Brause and Dugan vs. State of Alaska.

In his decision, Judge Michalski effectively ruled that the state’s policy of issuing marriage licenses only to opposite-sex couples is unconstitutional unless the state can demonstrate a compelling government interest (the "strict scrutiny" test) for denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

The judge’s decision to impose the strict scrutiny test is a logical extension of an illogical finding: namely, that the right to privacy found in Section 22 of Alaska’s constitution demands that the state provide public recognition of an individual’s personal choice of a life partner.

The legislative history of the privacy amendment approved by voters in 1972 clearly shows the amendment was not intended to legalize homosexual marriage. Judge Michalski’s ruling is a capricious exercise in legal nihilism, ignoring both legislative intent and thousands of years of legal and cultural history informing our understanding of what marriage is.

The ruling was prompted by the case of a same-sex couple seeking a marriage license, but the judge’s legal reasoning could invalidate other laws relating to marriage, including prohibitions on polygamy and restrictions based on age and consanguinity.

No state in the U.S. and no country in the world recognizes marriage between individuals of the same sex. Legalization of same-sex marriage in Alaska would place this state’s laws in conflict with the laws of all 49 other states and also the laws of the federal government, which define marriage as a union that can be entered into only by one man and one woman.

SCR 25 reaffirms the clear public policy statement made by the Legislature in 1996 when it overwhelmingly approved SB 308, an act that clarified what has always been the legal practice in Alaska by defining marriage as a union of one man and one woman.

Prepared by Mike Pauley, Aide to Senator Loren Leman, Vice-Chair, Senate HESS Committee (465-3841). Last Updated: March 23, 1998