Morrison v. Sadler

• Decision Date: 20 January 2005
• Docket Number: No. 49A02-0305-CV-447.,49A02-0305-CV-447.
• Citation: 821 N.E.2d 15
• Parties: Ruth MORRISON, et al., Appellants-Plaintiffs, v. Doris Ann SADLER, et al., Appellees-Defendants.
• Court: Indiana Appellate Court

821 N.E.2d 15

Ruth MORRISON, et al., Appellants-Plaintiffs, v. Doris Ann SADLER, et al., Appellees-Defendants.

No. 49A02-0305-CV-447.

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

January 20, 2005.

Kenneth J. Falk, Indiana Civil Liberties Union, Indianapolis, IN, Attorney for Appellants.

Anthony Overholt, Office of Corporate Counsel, Indianapolis, IN, Attorney for Appellee, Doris Ann Sadler, in her official capacity as Clerk of the Marion Circuit Court.

Gregory E. Steuerwald, Deckard & O'Brien, Danville, IN, Attorney for Appellee, Sharon Dugan, in her official capacity as Clerk of the Hendricks Circuit Court.

Thomas M. Fisher, Special Counsel, Indianapolis, IN, Attorney for Intervenor, Steve Carter, Attorney General of Indiana.

Cara C. Putman, Bennett Boehning & Clary, Lafayette, IN, Attorney for Amicus Curiae, Focus on the Family and Family Research Counsel.

Brian E. Bailey, Indianapolis, IN, Attorney for Amicus Curiae, Catholics Allied for the Faith, Inc.

Herbert A. Jensen, Jensen & Associates, Indianapolis, IN, Attorney for Amicus Curiae, Honorable Members of the Indiana General Assembly.

Charles P. Rice, Boveri Murphy Rice Ryan and LaDue, LLP, South Bend, IN, Attorney for Amicus Curiae, Society of Catholic Social Scientists.

Eric Allan Koch, The Koch Law Firm, Bloomington, IN, Paul Benjamin Linton, Pro hac vice, Northbrook, IL, Attorneys for Amicus Curiae, The Indiana Family Institute, The American Family Association of Indiana, Eagle Forum of Indiana.

OPINION

BARNES, Judge.

Case Summary

Ruth Morrison and Theresa Stephens, David Wene and David Squire, and Charlotte Egler and Dawn Egler (collectively "the Plaintiffs") appeal the trial court's dismissal of their complaint seeking to obtain marriage licenses from the Hendricks and Marion County Circuit Court clerks. The Attorney General of Indiana has intervened on behalf of the clerks (collectively "the State"). Additionally, five amicus curiae briefs have been filed supporting the State by the following parties: the Society of Catholic Social Scientists;¹ Catholics Allied for the Faith; Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council; seven members of the Indiana General Assembly; and the Indiana Family Institute, the American Family Association of Indiana, and the Eagle Forum of Indiana. After careful consideration of this issue, we affirm.

Issues

The issues before us are whether Indiana's statutory limitation of marriage to opposite-sex couples violates any of the following provisions of the Indiana Constitution: Article 1, § 23, Article 1, § 1, or Article 1, § 12.

Facts

The Plaintiffs are three same-sex couples who have been living together in long-term relationships. All three couples have traveled to Vermont to enter into civil unions permissible under that state's statutory framework. Charlotte Egler and Dawn Egler together are raising a child who was conceived by using assisted reproduction technology.

The predecessor to current Indiana Code Section 31-11-1-1(a) was passed in 1986. Similar statutes, commonly referred to as "Defense of Marriage Acts" ("DOMA"), have been passed by at least thirty-seven other states and the federal government. The relevant portion of Indiana's DOMA at issue today states: "Only a female may marry a male. Only a male may marry a female."² Ind.Code § 31-11-1-1(a). All three couples meet the legal requirements for marriage aside from being of the same gender.

On August 22, 2002, the Plaintiffs filed a declaratory judgment complaint seeking an injunction requiring the Hendricks and Marion County clerks to issue marriage licenses to them because Indiana's DOMA violated several provisions of the Indiana Constitution, namely, Article 1, § 23; Article 1, § 1; and Article 1, § 12. After the Plaintiffs filed a second amended complaint, the trial court granted the State's motion to dismiss on May 7, 2003, for failing to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. The Plaintiffs now appeal.

Analysis³

Before considering the Plaintiffs' contentions based on the Indiana Constitution, it is helpful to briefly mention federal law in this area as it helps explain both the Plaintiffs' and the State's approaches to this case. The Plaintiffs make no explicit argument that Indiana's limitation of marriage to opposite-sex couples violates the United States Constitution. There is binding United States Supreme Court precedent indicating that state bans on same-sex marriage do not violate the United States Constitution. In Baker v. Nelson, 291 Minn. 310, 191 N.W.2d 185 (1971), the Minnesota Supreme Court held that a ban on same-sex marriages did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment. In so holding, the court rejected the same-sex couple plaintiffs' principal argument that Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1, 87 S.Ct. 1817, 18 L.Ed.2d 1010 (1967), required that they be issued a marriage license. The court stated that Loving, which held bans on interracial marriages violated the Fourteenth Amendment, was decided solely on the grounds of the patent racial discrimination of such statutes. Baker, 191 N.W.2d at 187. It also stated, "in commonsense and in a constitutional sense, there is a clear distinction between a marital restriction based merely upon race and one based upon the fundamental difference in sex." Id.

The couple appealed to the United States Supreme Court, which dismissed the appeal without opinion "for want of a substantial federal question." Baker v. Nelson, 409 U.S. 810, 93 S.Ct. 37, 34 L.Ed.2d 65 (1972). Under procedural rules in effect at the time, the Plaintiffs do not contest that, unlike a denial of certiorari, such a dismissal represented a decision by the Supreme Court on the merits that the constitutional challenge presented was insubstantial, and which decision is binding on lower courts. See Hicks v. Miranda, 422 U.S. 332, 344, 95 S.Ct. 2281, 2289, 45 L.Ed.2d 223 (1975). Thus, the Supreme Court, five years after it decided Loving, determined that that case did not support an argument by same-sex couples that precluding them from marrying violated the Fourteenth Amendment. In light of this precedent, the Plaintiffs have not made a Fourteenth Amendment argument in this case.

There has been a change in attitude in the Supreme Court regarding homosexual relationships since 1972. In Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558, 123 S.Ct. 2472, 156 L.Ed.2d 508 (2003), the Supreme Court declared Texas' ban on sodomy unconstitutional as violating substantive due process, overruling Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S. 186, 106 S.Ct. 2841, 92 L.Ed.2d 140 (1986). Justice Kennedy's lead opinion was careful to state that the case did not involve "whether the government must give formal recognition to any relationship that homosexual persons seek to enter." Lawrence, 539 U.S. at 578, 123 S.Ct. at 2484. Also, he noted the gradual disappearance of anti-sodomy laws throughout the country and the world and the historical fact that they were infrequently enforced even when and where they existed. Id. at 572-73, 123 S.Ct. at 2481. By contrast, there currently is an active effort to ban same-sex marriages throughout the country as evidenced in part by the DOMA and constitutional amendment movements; such bans are not moribund as were the anti-sodomy laws. Additionally, Justice O'Connor in her separate concurrence, relying on the Equal Protection Clause, stated that "[u]nlike the moral disapproval of same-sex relations — the asserted state interest in this case — other reasons exist to promote the institution of marriage beyond mere moral disapproval of an excluded group," and that "preserving the traditional institution of marriage" is a legitimate state interest to support distinguishing between homosexuals and heterosexuals. Id. at 585, 123 S.Ct. at 2487-88.

The five justices of the Lawrence majority, as well as Justice O'Connor in her concurring opinion, do not appear to be prepared to extend the logic of their reasoning to the recognition of same-sex marriage. Nonetheless, the State conceded at oral argument in this case that Lawrence effectively forecloses the possibility of relying upon moral disapproval of homosexual relationships as the sole justification for limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples only. The State, in fact, did not rely at all upon such disapproval in its arguments.⁴

With this limited overview of federal law, the analysis now turns to state law, first noting the general standard of review. A complaint may not be dismissed for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted unless it is clear on the face of the complaint that the complaining party is not entitled to relief. City of New Haven v. Reichhart, 748 N.E.2d 374, 377 (Ind.2001); Ind. Trial Rule 12(B)(6). The pleadings are viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party and every reasonable inference must be drawn in favor of that party. Reichhart, 748 N.E.2d at 377. When reviewing a dismissal for failure to state a claim, we accept as true the facts alleged in the complaint and will affirm the dismissal if the complaint states a set of facts that, even if true, would not support the relief requested in that complaint. Id. at 377-78. The trial court's ruling will be affirmed if it is sustainable on any basis found in the record. Id. at 378.

I. Article 1, § 23 Claim

The Plaintiffs' first argument is that Indiana Code Section 31-11-1-1, expressly limiting the benefits and obligations of marriage to opposite-sex couples only, violates the Equal Privileges and Immunities Clause of Article 1, § 23 of the Indiana Constitution.⁵ Article 1, § 23 states: "The General Assembly shall not grant to any citizen, or class of citizens, privileges or immunities, which, upon the same terms, shall not equally belong to all citizens." This provision imposes two requirements upon statutes that grant unequal privileges or immunities to differing classes of persons.

First, the disparate treatment accorded by the legislation must be reasonably related to inherent

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