Professor Stephen Clark and several other constitutional law scholars from around the country have filed an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the pending challenges to state bans on same-sex marriage. The brief argues that the bans unconstitutionally discriminate on the basis of sex. The authors use the original meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment as a basis for their argument along with longstanding Supreme Court precedent.

According to a blog post written by one of the co-authors, Ilya Somin, “Laws banning same-sex marriage are also often, at least in part, motivated by overbroad stereotypical generalizations about the sexes and their appropriate roles in the family.”

The ACLU has also asked the group to file a version of the brief in the pending marriage equality challenge in the 8th Circuit, which sits in St. Louis.

In 2006, Dean Alicia Oullette and Professor Clark co-authored a similar brief in connection with a challenge to New York’s ban, which was then before the New York Court of Appeals.

Professor Clark joined Albany Law School in 2000. Before Albany Law School, he was in private practice with Winston & Strawn in Chicago, specializing in employment-related appellate litigation. His research interests include employment discrimination, federalism and lesbian and gay rights.

Click here to read the full brief