Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III said the state's position on same-sex marriage was argued well before the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday.
He said, “Associate Solicitor General Counsel Joe Whalen did an excellent job arguing the case. He represented well the State of Tennessee, poised and articulate as he was when he successfully argued the case before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
"Our hope is that the Court affirms the Sixth Circuit and will leave it to the states to decide what marriages to recognize. This has been the longstanding province of the states and our position is that it should stay that way. Let the citizens of the state vote and decide such important issues. As the Sixth Circuit said, decide by democracy rather than litigation.
"We have a great system and it is in the hands of the best jurists in the country. I am confident Tennesseans will respect the Court's decision, as they always have.”
The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of Tanco v. Haslam.
A ruling is expected by June.
David Fowler, the president of The Family Action Council of Tennessee (FACT), said, "The oral arguments today on marriage and the decision that will ultimately flow from them will have the potential to forever change the way we understand the Constitution and the principle of federalism and states’ rights.
"Since our nation’s founding, states have defined marriage as a man and a woman, and if the Supreme Court is going to alter this understanding of states’ rights, then they owe it to the millions of Americans who have voted to define marriage as one man and one woman to tell us what that new definition of marriage is. And they owe it to the judges and the state legislative bodies, because they will be left to grapple with the arguments for polygamous and polyandrous marriages that are sure to come.
"For the Court to only tell the states that they can no longer define marriage as a man and a woman without telling them what the new definition is will be a dereliction of their duty."
The Family Action Council of Tennessee, which Fowler heads, was formed in 2006 by a group of citizens concerned about the growing negative impact of public policies on the family. FACT’s mission is to equip Tennesseans and their elected officials to effectively promote and defend a culture that values the traditional family, for the sake of the common good. For more information, visit FACTn.org.