CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said his intervention in a federal case challenging the state’s ban on gay marriage is not about his personal opinion on the issue.
“As the attorney general, I don’t get to pick and choose when I get to defend a law, when it’s popular, when it’s not. I have a duty, when I take my oath of office, to defend situations like this,” said Morrisey on Tuesday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”
Last Friday, Morrisey’s office filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit three same-sex couples filed in Huntington Federal Court in early October against Kanawha County Clerk Vera McCormick and Cabell County Clerk Karen Cole because they have been denied marriage licenses.
The lawsuit claimed the clerks are violating the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by unfairly discriminating against same-sex couples.
The clerks have said those licenses were refused because state law in West Virginia defines marriage as between one man and one woman.
In part, Morrisey’s filing reads: “The state intervenes…for the sole and limited purpose of defending the constitutionality of the statutes in questions.”
“I do support traditional marriage, but this issue, to me, is not about my personal opinion. This is about my obligation under the law,” said Morrisey.
“I focus on the obligations I have to represent the state and so that means, when there’s a challenge to a law that’s properly passed, consistent with the Constitution, because I’m the attorney general and not the Legislature, I’m going to be there defending the state law.”