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Campbell law professors refute claims about marriage amendment
VoteForMarriage NC
April 23, 2012
3 MIN READ TIME

Campbell law professors refute claims about marriage amendment

Campbell law professors refute claims about marriage amendment
VoteForMarriage NC
April 23, 2012

RALEIGH, N.C. — On April 18, law professors from Campbell University released a white paper refuting the claims made by Professor Maxine Eichner of University of North Carolina School of Law who has alleged that the N.C. Marriage Protection Amendment would negatively affect current law.

Law professors Lynn Buzzard, William Woodruff and E. Gregory Wallace found Eichner’s assertions regarding how the amendment would alter legal protections for unmarried same-sex and opposite sex couples to be incorrect and said “we do not think its terms justify these concerns.”

In a press release, the Campbell University law professors (who are speaking as individuals, not for the university) said if the amendment passes, “same-sex couples would still be protected under domestic violence laws, would retain their current rights to child custody and visitation, and could continue to receive public health insurance benefits.”

The professors’ legal analysis stated, “The Amendment does not forbid the legal recognition or validity of all domestic relationships, but only of domestic ‘unions.’ The flaw in Professor Eichner’s analysis is that she does not give the term ‘union’ its proper effect in limiting the amendment’s reach.”

In addition, the law professors found that, “The plain language of the amendment reaches only domestic unions – marriage and marriage imitations or substitutes – not all domestic relationships. There is no evidence that North Carolina’s proposed amendment is intended to go further than the marriage amendments in every other state by barring the state, as Professor Eichner claims, from giving unmarried couples ‘much less significant protections than those accorded married couples.’”

“We are thankful that the law professors at Campbell University had the diligence to dig deeper into this matter and confirm that the opposition’s charges against the amendment are factually and legally false. The Marriage Protection Amendment simply elevates current law defining marriage as the union between one man and one woman to a constitutional amendment,” said Tami Fitzgerald, chairwoman of Vote FOR Marriage NC. “It’s time for the opposition to stop fabricating hypotheticals as a scare tactic to avoid talking about the real issue at hand – preserving marriage as the union of one man and one woman.”

Since the amendment passed the N.C. General Assembly in September of 2011, Maxine Eichner, a professor at UNC School of Law and state employee, has traveled across the state to offer her opinion regarding the unintended consequences of amendment on current law. Eichner claims the amendment would negatively affect benefits and protections for all unmarried couples. Although all such claims were based solely on Eichner’s opinion, the media and other sources have cited her claims as facts. The white paper produced by law professors at Campbell University offer a refutation of her false allegations.

Vote FOR Marriage NC is the referendum committee working to pass the amendment on May 8. The campaign is comprised of a multitude of policy organizations, denominations and civic groups. Its Executive Committee consists of the Christian Action League, N.C. Values Coalition, a coalition of African American pastors, N.C. Baptists, and the National Organization for Marriage (NOM).

North Carolinians interested in more information about Vote FOR Marriage NC may visit the campaign’s website at VoteForMarriageNC.com.