The Arkansas Legislative Council on Friday approved a resolution opposing gay marriage and condemning Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza for his May 9 ruling that struck down the state's ban on gay marriage.
Piazza found that Amendment 83 to the Arkansas Constitution, approved by voters in November 2004, and Act 144 of 1997, a separate law prohibiting same-sex marriage, violated provisions of the state and federal constitutions. He later expanded his order to include all state laws that banned gay marriage.
The state appealed the ruling, which is pending before the Arkansas Supreme Court. The high court issued a stay of Piazza's ruling May 16 after almost 600 marriage licenses were issued to same-sex couples.
The nonbinding resolution, sponsored by Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Bigelow, states that Amendment 83, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman, "represents the will of the people" and that Piazza's ruling was in "direct contradiction to his oath" to uphold the state constitution and was "an abuse of his judicial authority."
The measure passed overwhelmingly on a voice vote after two Democrats spoke against it.
The resolution had 58 co-sponsors, in addition to Rapert, including nine Democrats. Forty-one House members and 18 senators were sponsors.
It was presented one month after Democrats on the council and House Speaker Davy Carter, R-Cabot, blocked its introduction. Because the measure wasn't on the agenda, it needed the backing of two-thirds of the members present to suspend the rules and introduce it.
Rapert said the measure gives the Legislature the "ability to speak" on the issue, which he said "deals with the right of our state to define marriage."
"I can't imagine any branch of our government coming against 75 percent of the electorate who spoke in our state on this issue," Rapert said, referring to the lopsided vote in favor of Amendment 83.
Rep. John Walker, D-Little Rock, said there was a time when the will of the people prevented women from voting and allowed slavery. He said he felt like the "attacks" on Piazza were not "well presented" because it was the judge's job to interpret the law and uphold people's fundamental rights.
"Are we all equal and if we are, are we entitled to equal rights? And the courts have to make that determination. Judge Piazza spoke first, the Supreme Court will speak, we as the Legislature have spoken, we have been overruled and it should now be a matter for the judiciary," Walker said.
Sen. David Johnson, D-Little Rock, said the resolution was "incorrect" about whether Piazza overstepped his authority. He said the judge, and others who later ruled similarly in Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania, were justified, properly citing the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that struck down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act as unconstitutional. That law prevented the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages.
"It's not like all these judges have gone off the rails and are doing whatever they want to do," Johnson said.
Rep. Bob Ballinger, R-Hindsville, disagreed and said the high court's ruling did not address the constitutionality of individual states' bans.
"What we have is a circuit court judge who is vested with the responsibility to not decide the law but to interpret the law. And right now we have a constitutional amendment in the state of Arkansas that defines what marriage is and we have no Supreme Court decision, no binding precedent, that overturned that," Ballinger said.
Rapert said in an interview after the meeting that he expects to see an initiated act to create a process to recall judges. He said other states have recall provisions on the books, and that there is a group working on drafting a proposal for Arkansas.
A spokesman for the state Supreme Court declined to comment on the resolution but referred a reporter to Chief Justice Jim Hannah's "State of the Judiciary" address at the Arkansas Bar Association meeting last week. In that speech, Hannah thanked "several lawyer-legislators" who issued statements "not in support of any decision, but in support of the judicial process and the appropriate role of the judiciary in deciding such issues."
The legislators mentioned by name included Carter, who was the lone Republican to vote against introducing Rapert's resolution at last month's Legislative Council meeting. In a statement at the time, Carter said: "Judicial intimidation by the legislative branch is not appropriate in this instance or any other."
In the speech, Hannah said "recent comments" and calls for Piazza's impeachment "indicate a profound lack of understanding about the basic role of judges and courts."
The state quickly asked for a stay soon after Piazza's ruling on May 9, a Friday, vowing to appeal. The judge did not rule on the stay, and the state asked the high court to intervene the following Monday.
Two days later, the Supreme Court declined to issue a stay, saying Piazza had not addressed all of the points raised by the plaintiffs or properly issued a final order. The court noted Piazza had not ruled on Act 146 of 1997, which prohibits county clerks from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Violation of the law is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of between $100 and $500.
Piazza expanded his order the next day to include Act 146 and made the ruling retroactive to his original decision. The judge rejected the state's motion for a stay, and the state asked the high court to issue one.
On May 16 -- one week after Piazza's original ruling -- the Supreme Court granted the state's motion for a stay.
Jerry Cox, president of the Family Council, said he thinks it's important that the Legislature "affirm the will of the people." He said he thinks the court will look at the resolution "very carefully."
"The people of Arkansas made it very clear about their views on how marriage ought to be defined," Cox said.
Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest advocacy group for homosexual, bisexual and transgender rights, said in a statement that the issue "is a matter of basic fairness and shouldn't be subject to political gamesmanship."
"The Arkansas Legislative Council can't intimidate the judiciary into ignoring the fact that gay and lesbian couples have a constitutional right to marry," Griffin said.
Metro on 06/21/2014
