Oregon's AG Will Not Defend Gay Marriage Ban in Court

Couples filed suit in December

Oregon will enforce — but not defend — the state's same-sex marriage ban, the attorney general said Thursday, noting that the prohibition could not "withstand a federal constitutional challenge under any standard of review."

Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum made the remarks in response to litigation seeking the right for gays and lesbians to wed in Oregon.

Two couples filed the lawsuit last December challenging the state's constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage, one of dozens of lawsuits challenging such bans across the country since the Supreme Court ruled in favor of gay rights last summer.

The state "will not defend the Oregon ban on same-sex marriage in this litigation," Rosenblum wrote in a court filing in response to the litigation. Rather, the position the state will take is "that the ban cannot withstand a federal constitutional challenge under any standard of review."