Challenge to Oregon same-sex marriage ban returns to court News
Challenge to Oregon same-sex marriage ban returns to court

[JURIST] Oregon Circuit Judge Joseph Guimond heard oral arguments Monday in the latest case to challenge the constitutionality of Measure 36 [text], a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage [JURIST news archive] approved by Oregon voters on November 2, 2004. Representing Basic Rights Oregon [advocacy website; case factsheet, PDF], Portland lawyer Mark Johnson argued that Measure 36 revised rather than amended the Oregon Constitution [text] and the amendment was invalid because it made several constitutional changes which under the constitution require separate amendments. For the state, assistant attorney general Charles Fletcher contended that the Measure was a straightforward, one-sentence provision that really clarified the already existing standard that the only valid marriage recognized by Oregon state or local governments in Oregon is one between a man and a woman. AP has more.