The Ninth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals has denied Idaho Governor Butch Otter's petition for an en banc review of the court's decision to strike down Idaho's same-sex marriage ban. Otter made good on his litigious efforts earlier this month after promising that he would continue to fight against marriage equality in Idaho until he was left with no other options.
“The Ninth Circuit correctly recognized that there is no need to reconsider the panel's decision that Idaho's marriage ban violates basic constitutional guarantees of equal protection,” said Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
“The Ninth Circuit's decision striking down the Idaho marriage ban is consistent with the rulings of three other federal appeals courts, which have rightly concluded that our Constitution cannot tolerate the profound harm that denying same-sex couples the freedom to marry inflicts those couples and their children.”