Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller
announced on Friday that he plans to file briefs in support of gay
marriage bans when the Supreme Court takes up Proposition 8,
California's marriage ban, and the federal Defense of Marriage Act
(DOMA) next year.
“I'm not going to wait for people to
challenge our statute,” Zoeller
said during a year-end news conference. “There's a case that's
going to go up before the Supreme Court, and I think it's my duty to
file the amicus brief like we did with defending the roles of states
in other areas.”
Zoeller filed a friend-of-the-court
brief in August asking the high court to take the Prop 8 case and
reverse a decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals which found the 2008 voter-approved amendment to be
unconstitutional.
“We contend the people of each state
– either through their elected legislators or directly by
referendum – should have the authority to define marriage within
their state, and Indiana stands firm in its vigorous defense of each
state's legal authority to recognize the traditional definition of
marriage as a significant state interest,” Zoeller earlier said.
A proposed constitutional amendment
limiting marriage to heterosexual couples in Indiana is expected to
clear its final legislative hurdle early next year and make its way
to the 2014 ballot.
(Related: Indiana:
Majority oppose proposed gay marriage ban.)