JURIST - Paper Chase: Federal appeals court says Mass. court acted within US Constitution when issuing same-sex marriage decision

The 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday rejected an attempt to stop same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, saying the appropriate way to contest the state court ruling in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health is to amend the Massachusetts Constitution. Conservative groups and state lawmakers had argued that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, by ruling that same-sex couples are entitled to wed, usurped power of the state legislature and therefore violated the US Constitution. In its opinion [PDF], the court said that a state would only violate the Guarantee Clause by establishing a monarchy or taking other action that clearly deviated from the republican form of government. AP has the full story. Liberty Counsel, one of the plaintiffs, has this press release on today's decision. For more on the earlier district court decision in the case, see this previous report on JURIST's Paper Chase.