Albany, NY - The Court of Appeals, which in New York is the state's highest court, declined to take jurisdiction over the appeals involving two same-sex marriage cases. In Hernandez v. Robles, a Manhattan judge struck down the state marriage laws, but a judge in Samuels v. New York State Department of Health upheld the marriage laws which preserve marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Liberty Counsel filed briefs in both cases in defense of the marriage laws.

Following the conflicting rulings, both cases were appealed directly to New York's highest court, but that court has now declined to take the cases and sent them back to the Appellate Division. The Hernandez case will be heard in the First Department, while the Samuels case will be heard in the Third Department of the Appellate Division. Liberty Counsel will be filing briefs in support of the marriage laws in both appellate courts. In the meantime, the decision in Hernandez, which struck down New York's marriage laws, is stayed pending the appeal.

Mathew D. Staver, President and General Counsel of Liberty Counsel, declared: "The decision by New York's highest court to send the cases back to the Appellate Division is the correct one. Now both of these cases will be argued in two separate appellate courts. Our goal is to ask the appellate courts to affirm the marriage laws in both cases and thus to eliminate any conflict among the courts regarding the constitutionality of New York's law that preserves marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Marriage is not the equivalent of a buffet line where you can pick and choose any human relationship and tag it with a marriage label. Marriage is a fundamental social policy that must be established by the people and not reengineered by the courts."

"Same-Sex Marriage: Putting Every Household at Risk"


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