ABA Opposes Marriage Amendment

February 9, 2004

SAN ANTONIO - The American Bar Association today adopted a policy opposing any federal encroachment into the right of states to determine the definition of civil marriage and when to recognize a civil marriage entered into under the laws of another state.

Following the vote, ABA President Dennis Archer noted that two states Ohio and Massachusetts have recently taken dramatically different positions and that other states might also want to take different positions, and said that the federal government should let the states make their own decisions on the matter. The association did not take a position on whether states should or should not allow civil marriage between same-sex couples.