Washington, D.C. — Liberty Education Forum, the non-partisan sister think tank of Log Cabin Republicans, has submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court of the United States in support of marriage equality targeted specifically at Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. The brief, which can be read at this link, makes the specific argument that committed same-sex couples who live in states that do not recognize marriage equality have limitations on their constitutional right to freedom of speech, specifically as it pertains to political giving and campaign contributions.
“No two Justices on the Supreme Court have been more vocal about their opposition to curtailments of the First Amendment that exist because of restrictions on campaign contributions than Justices Scalia and Thomas,” Liberty Education Forum and Log Cabin Republicans National Executive Director Gregory T. Angelo stated. “In states that ban marriage equality, straight couples literally have twice the freedom of speech as their same-sex counterparts. While we hope this argument resonates with all nine members of the Supreme Court, our amicus brief, formally filed with the Supreme Court last week, was prepared with the express purpose of appealing to the conservative wing of the Court by expressing the very real and quantifiable limits to the First Amendment that exist because of marriage equality bans.”
The brief, prepared by Craig Engle of Arent Fox LLP and Brett G. Kappel of Akerman LLP, was made possible by the support of the Liberty Education Forum and Log Cabin Republicans National Boards of Directors, with special thanks to Leonard Olds and Hugh Rouse, and William Thibaut.
“A prohibition against same-sex marriage is one of those provably unequal laws: it creates mathematical unconstitutional differences between similar couple’s rights to make political contributions,” Engle said. “Combining a state’s same-sex marriage prohibitions and its campaign finance laws creates a circular scenario in which same-sex couples face discrimination with regard to their right to marry, but are prevented from equal participation through which they might end that discrimination. It is a perpetual motion machine of discrimination. The law causing this inequality — the prohibition against same-sex marriages — must be struck.”
Liberty Education Forum National Board of Directors
Tom Wahl, Jr., Chairman
Leonard Olds, Vice-Chairman
John Herrick, Treasurer & Secretary
Jamie Ensley
Hugh Rouse
Michael Sorrell
William Thibaut
Log Cabin Republicans National Board of Directors