A group of more than 300 prominent Republican, including Sens. Mark Kirk (Ill.) and Susan Collins (Maine), and philanthropist David Koch, filed a Supreme Court brief late Thursday calling for a federal right to gay marriage.
{mosads}In its amicus brief, the group argues that, while the signers are all conservatives, banning gay marriages is inconsistent with constitutional requirements of equal protection and due process, and with the “properly limited role of government.”
“Amici support traditional conservative values, including the belief in the importance of stable families, as well as the commitment to limited government and the protection of individual freedom,” the brief says.
“Because they believe that those conservative values are consistent with — indeed are advanced by — affording civil marriage rights to same sex couples, amici submit that the decision below should be reversed.”
Former Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman organized the brief, which includes signers from federal and state governments. Notable signers also include Reps. Robert Dold (Ill.), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.), Carlos Curbelo (Fla.), former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, former New York Gov. Rudy Guiliani, retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker.
The Supreme Court will hear challenges to same-sex marriage bans in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee on April 28 and could rule on the potentially watershed case in June.