San Francisco, CA – Yesterday, Liberty Counsel filed a brief at the California Supreme Court in a nationally significant case that will ultimately either protect or destroy the definition of marriage, which has always been the union between one man and one woman. Liberty Counsel’s brief argues that the fundamental constitutional right to marry includes rights and obligations that cannot be eliminated because they come from the inherent nature of marriage as the union of one man and one woman, rather than from a state-sanctioned union of any two people who love each other.

Fifteen amicus briefs have been submitted in support of Liberty Counsel’s position in Thomasson v. Newsom. Liberty Counsel represents Campaign for California Families. One amicus brief filed in support of Liberty Counsel’s arguments was submitted by the African American Pastors of California, which states: “The analogy to racial discrimination is not only false, it is destructive.”

Speaking on behalf of those who have experienced real discrimination, the African American Pastors’ brief states that “Marriage is not a ‘socially constructed’ relationship rooted only in the law or in the social or religious conventions of the society in which it is recognized. Nor is it simply a ‘committed relationship’ with a person of one’s choice. The union of a man and a woman in marriage is, and always has been, the fundamental building block upon which families, communities and entire societies are built.”

On the other hand, an amicus brief asking the California Supreme Court to strike down the marriage law declared that “a high court’s message can have a proselytizing and sobering effect, converting an impetuous popular mind into one more receptive to reason.” This brief urges the Court to become an activist engine for social change by undermining the will of the people. Liberty Counsel’s brief responded to a total of forty-five amicus briefs, including the one just quoted.

Mathew D. Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, commented: “Virtually every court that has considered challenges to traditional marriage has correctly concluded that the matter of marriage should be decided by the people, not by the courts. Courts are not proselytizing engines of radical social change. Marriage between one man and one woman is an historically shared value that transcends time. Untying the knot that holds together traditional marriage will unravel the family, destabilize the culture, and hurt children.”