Deboer v. Snyder

• Decision Date: 21 March 2014
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 12–CV–10285.
• Citation: 973 F.Supp.2d 757
• Parties: April DEBOER, individually and as parent and next friend of N.D.-R, R.D.-R., and J.D.-R, minors, and Jayne Rowse, individually and as parent and next friend of N.D.-R, R.D.-R., and J.D.-R, minors, Plaintiffs, v. Richard SNYDER, in his official capacity as Governor of the State of Michigan, and Bill Schuette, in his official capacity as Michigan Attorney General, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Michigan

973 F.Supp.2d 757

April DEBOER, individually and as parent and next friend of N.D.-R, R.D.-R., and J.D.-R, minors, and Jayne Rowse, individually and as parent and next friend of N.D.-R, R.D.-R., and J.D.-R, minors, Plaintiffs,

v.Richard SNYDER, in his official capacity as Governor of the State of Michigan, and Bill Schuette, in his official capacity as Michigan Attorney General, Defendants.

Civil Action No. 12–CV–10285.

United States District Court,

E.D. Michigan,

Southern Division.

Signed March 21, 2014.

Held Unconstitutional

M.C.L.A. Const. Art. 1, § 25.

Validity Called into Doubt

M.C.L.A. § 551.1.

Dana M. Nessel, Nessel Kessel, Robert A. Sedler, Wayne State University Law School, Detroit, MI, Joshua A. Block, Leslie Cooper, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, New York, NY, Kenneth M. Mogill, Mogill, Posner, Lake Orion, MI, Mary L. Bonauto, Vickie L. Henry, Gay & Lesiban Advocates & Defenders, Boston, MA, Carole M. Stanyar Ann Arbor, MI, for Plaintiffs.

Bullard Bill, Jr., Pontiac, MI, pro se.

Joseph E. Potchen, Kristin M. Heyse, Michigan Department of the Attorney General, Michelle M. Brya, Hubbard, Fox, Lansing, MI, Tonya C. Jeter, Michigan Attorney General, Detroit, MI, Keith J. Lerminiaux, Oakland County Corporation Counsel, Pontiac, MI, Andrea J. Johnson, Beth M. Rivers, Michael L. Pitt, Pitt, McGehee, Royal Oak, MI, for Defendants.

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

BERNARD A. FRIEDMAN, Senior District Judge.

Plaintiffs April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse (“plaintiffs”) challenge a November 2004 voter-approved amendment to the Michigan Constitution that prohibits same-sex marriage (hereinafter the “Michigan Marriage Amendment” or “MMA”), Mich. Const. Art. I, § 25. The Michigan Marriage Amendment states: “To secure and preserve the benefits of marriage for our society and for future generations of children, the union of one man and one woman in marriage shall be the only agreement recognized as a marriage or similar union for any purpose.” Plaintiffs maintain that the MMA violates the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and they seek to enjoin state and county officials from enforcing the provision and its implementing statutes.¹

After reviewing the evidence presented at the trial, including the testimony of various expert witnesses, the exhibits, and stipulations, and after considering all of the legal issues involved, the Court concludes that the MMA is unconstitutional and will enjoin its enforcement.

I. Background

The underlying facts of this case are straightforward. Plaintiffs are an unmarried same-sex couple residing in Hazel Park, Michigan. They have lived together for the past eight years and jointly own their residence. Both are state-licensed foster parents. DeBoer is a nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit at Hutzel Hospital and Rowse is an emergency room nurse at Henry Ford Hospital, both located in Detroit. In November 2009, Rowse, as a single person, legally adopted child N. In October 2011, also as a single person, she legally adopted child J. In April 2011, DeBoer, as a single person, adopted child R. Unable to jointly adopt the three children, plaintiffs initially filed the instant action against the state defendants requesting that the Court enjoin them from enforcing section 24 of the Michigan Adoption Code (hereinafter “section 24”), Mich. Comp. Laws § 710.24, which restricts adoptions to either single persons or married couples. Plaintiffs claimed that section 24 violates the Equal Protection Clause because it impermissibly discriminates against unmarried couples. In response, the state defendants moved to dismiss the complaint on the grounds that, among other things, plaintiffs lacked standing to bring suit.

The Court held a hearing on the state defendants' motion and expressed reservations that plaintiffs did not possess the requisite standing to challenge section 24. The Court noted that while plaintiffs made a colorable claim that they and their children were, in fact, injured by their ineligibility to petition for joint adoption, this injury was not traceable to defendants' enforcement of section 24. Rather, plaintiffs could not jointly adopt their children because they were not married, and any legal form of same-sex union is prohibited by the MMA. The Court concluded the hearing by inviting plaintiffs to seek leave to amend their complaint to include a challenge to the MMA.

Plaintiffs accepted the Court's invitation and sought leave to amend their complaint, which the Court granted over defendants' objection. The amended complaint included a second cause of action challenging the validity of the MMA on both due process and equal protection grounds. The state defendants then renewed their motion, this time to dismiss the amended complaint. The Court held the matter in abeyance and then denied the motion after the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Windsor, –––U.S. ––––, 133 S.Ct. 2675, 186 L.Ed.2d 808 (2013), invalidating section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 (“DOMA”).

Thereafter, the parties both filed motions for summary judgment. The state defendants, in support of their argument that the MMA has legitimate purposes, offered the following reasons for excluding same-sex couples from Michigan's definition of marriage: (1) providing children with “biologically connected” role models of both genders that are necessary to foster healthy psychological development; (2) avoiding the unintended consequences that might result from redefining marriage; (3) upholding tradition and morality; and (4) promoting the transition of “naturally procreative relationships into stable unions.” Assuming that the appropriate level of scrutiny in this case is rational basis review, the Court concluded that plaintiffs raised triable issues of fact regarding whether the proffered rationales for the MMA serve a legitimate state interest, but that plaintiffs had not demonstrated their entitlement to summary judgment. As a result, the Court scheduled the matter for trial.

II. Trial Proceedings, Summary of Testimony, and Findings of Fact

In setting the case for trial, the Court directed the parties to address a narrow legal issue: whether the MMA survives rational basis review. In other words, does the MMA proscribe conduct in a mannerthat is rationally related to any conceivable legitimate governmental purpose.

Plaintiffs called psychologist David Brodzinsky as their first witness. He testified that decades of social science research studies indicate that there is no discernible difference in parenting competence between lesbian and gay adults and their heterosexual counterparts. Pls.' Ex. 30 at 3–4. Nor is there any discernible difference in the developmental outcomes of children raised by same-sex parents as compared to those children raised by heterosexual parents. Id. Brodzinsky stressed that the primary factors influencing childhood development are:

[the] quality of parent-child relationships; quality of the relationships between the parents ... [t]he characteristics of the parent, the styles that they adopt, parental warmth and nurturance [ sic ], emotional sensitivity. The ability to employ age appropriate rules and structure for the child. And the kinds of educational opportunities that children are afforded is important, as well as the resources that are provided for the child, not only in the family itself, but the resources that, from the outside, that impact the family and the child in particular. And of course, the mental health of ... the parents.

Brodzinsky, Tr. 2/25/14 pp. 69–70. Contrary to the state defendants' position, Brodzinsky testified that there is no body of research supporting the belief that children require parent role models of both genders to be healthy and well adjusted. Id. at 78–79. What matters is the “quality of parenting that's being offered” to the child. Id. at 78. Brodzinsky also noted that same-sex parenting has become a fact of life for many American children and that legally recognizing same-sex marriages would benefit these children by promoting family stability and investing these families with “social capital.” Id. at 136.

Brodzinsky also addressed the criticism that most of the social science research studies informing his conclusions are statistically unreliable because they utilized small and self-selecting sample populations, i.e., “convenience studies.” In addressing this criticism, Brodzinsky indicated that researchers in the fields of child development and family psychology commonly use convenience studies as a methodological tool for studying issues of interest because they, in contrast to large-scale studies, offer the opportunity for a more detailed analysis of the circumstances affecting children and their parents. While Brodzinsky acknowledged that small-scale convenience samples have their limitations, he highlighted that researchers studying same-sex households have verified the conclusions of their convenience studies by consistently replicating the results of these studies using different research strategies and sample populations. These studies, approximately 150 in number, have repeatedly demonstrated that there is no scientific basis to conclude that children raised by same-sex parents fare worse than those raised by heterosexual parents.

The Court finds Brodzinsky's testimony to be fully credible and gives it considerable weight. He testified convincingly that children's outcomes depend on the factors he cited, and not on their parents' gender and not on whether they are raised by heterosexual or same-sex couples. The quality of a person's child-rearing skills is unrelated to the person's gender or sexual orientation. Brodzinsky's credibility was not in any way lessened by the fact that the social science research upon which his opinions are based come largely from so-called “convenience studies.” As...