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USCCB Blog: Attorney General Holder Acts Contrary to Supreme Court Decision

Although Utah is appealing a recent decision made by a federal district court to redefine marriage and the Supreme Court has stayed the district court decision while the case is on appeal, Attorney General Eric Holder has recently announced that so-called “marriages” performed before the stay would be recognized. In his recent article on the matter, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, Chairman of the Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage explained, “Attorney General Holder is ignoring Utah law and imposing a contrary federal definition of marriage in that state. In this, General Holder’s decision is actually contrary to the Supreme Court’s decision last year in United States v. Windsor.” Archbishop Cordileone continued, “If the federal government is legally obliged to defer to the marriage law of the state, as Windsor itself holds, then how can the federal government recognize as valid – even if only for federal purposes – marriages which a state has not deemed valid? This logically opens the door for the federal government to recognize any type of relationship (and with any number of partners) as valid marriages in contradiction to state law.”

For Archbishop Cordileone’s full article, click here.

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