Julaine K. Appling v. Scott Walker

SHIRLEY S. ABRAHAMSON, C.J.

¶ 60. (concurring.) The majority opinion correctly notes that the instant case does not address any challenge to Article XIII, Section 13 of the Wisconsin Constitution. Majority op., ¶ 1, n.3.

¶ 61. Although I agree with the majority opinion that Chapter 770 does not violate Article XIII, Section 13, the restriction of marriage to opposite-sex couples provided in Article XIII, Section 13 has been challenged in Wisconsin courts as unconstitutional.

¶ 62. This court recently declined to accept an original action challenging the constitutionality of Article XIII, Section 13 under the United States Constitution.¹ Recently, the federal district court for the Western District of Wisconsin declared Article XIII, Section 13, unconstitutional under the United States Constitution,² in line with other recent judicial decisions.³

¶ 63. I write separately to call the reader's attention to these developments of the law.

1 Halopka-Ivery v. Walker, 2014AP839-OA, slip op. (Wis. May 22, 2014) (denying the petition ex parte, with Abrahamson, C.J., and Bradley, J., dissenting).

2 Wolf v. Walker, No. 14-CV-64-BBC, 986 F.Supp.2d 982, 2014 WL 2558444 (W.D. Wis. June 6, 2014).

3 See, e.g., Bostic v. Rainey, 970 F. Supp. 2d. 456, 470 (E.D. Va. 2014); Bishop v. U.S. ex rel. Holder, 962 F. Supp. 2d 1252, 1277 (N.D. Okla. 2014); Kitchen v. Herbert, 961 F. Supp. 2d 1181, 1195 (D. Utah 2013).