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Domestic Violence in the National News
Domestic Violence Law Exception Rejected
July 26, 2007Domestic Violence Law Exception Rejected
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 25 (AP) — Ohio’s domestic violence laws do not conflict with its ban on same-sex marriage, the State Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.
In a 6-to-1 decision, justices rejected an argument that the domestic violence law was unenforceable in cases involving unmarried couples because it refers to them as living together “as a spouse.”
Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer wrote that lawmakers included many groups under the domestic violence law, and that describing people’s living arrangements was not the same as creating a law approximating marriage.
The same-sex marriage ban prohibited the government from creating any such approximation.
The case was being closely watched around the country for the precedent it could set affecting a dozen similarly worded laws.
The decision came in the case of Michael Carswell of Warren County, who was accused of assaulting his live-in female companion.
Mr. Carswell argued that the section of law under which he was charged conflicted with the marriage amendment.
Twenty-seven states have constitutional language defining marriage as between a man and a woman, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
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