Monte Neil Stewart

stewart@stm-law.com

STEWART TAYLOR & MORRIS PLLC LAWYERS

12550 W. Explorer Drive, Suite 100

Boise, ID 83713

Telephone (208) 345-3333

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Monte Neil Stewart

Craig G. Taylor

Thomas C. Morris

Daniel W. Bower

Gabriel M. Haws

Chad E. Bernards

Richard S. Bower

Ammon C. Taylor

May 6, 2014

Via CM/ECF Electronic Filing System

Molly C. Dwyer, Clerk of the Court

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

Re: Sevcik v. Sandoval, Case No. 12-17668;

Appellee Coalition for the Protection of Marriage’s Rule 28(j) citation

of supplemental authority: Town of Greece v. Galloway, No. 12-696

(U.S. May 5, 2014), slip opinion attached

Dear Clerk:

Yesterday’s opinion of the Supreme Court in Town of Greece supports the

Coalition’s showing that Nevada’s man-woman definition of marriage is consistent

with any proper reading of the Fourteenth Amendment.

In upholding the town’s practice of beginning town council meetings with

prayer, the Court made several statements indicating that the First Amendment’s

Establishment Clause, made applicable to the States through the Fourteenth

Amendment, should not be interpreted in a way that renders invalid a practice—

like prayer in public meetings—that was well established at the time the First and

Fourteenth Amendments were adopted. For example, referring to the Court’s

earlier decision in Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U.S. 783 (1983), the Court said:

Marsh stands for the proposition that it is not necessary to define the

precise boundary of the Establishment Clause where history shows

that the specific practice is permitted. Any test the Court adopts must

acknowledge a practice that was accepted by the Framers and has

withstood the critical scrutiny of time and political change.

Slip Op. at 8. So too here: Any “test the Court adopts” for determining Fourteenth

Amendment limitations on a State’s authority to define marriage ought likewise

Case: 12-17668 05/06/2014 ID: 9084929 DktEntry: 201-1 Page: 1 of 2

Ninth Circuit Clerk

May 6, 2014

Page 2

respect “a practice”—namely, the man-woman definition of marriage—that was

universally “accepted by the Framers” of the Fourteenth Amendment. See

Coalition Answering Br. at 88-89, 99-100 (Dkt. No. 110-3).

Also, speaking of the “purpose and effect” of the town council prayer in

Town of Greece, the Court went on to hold that “[t]he inclusion of a brief,

ceremonial prayer as part of a larger exercise in civic recognition suggests that its

purpose and effect are to acknowledge religious leaders and the institutions they

represent, rather than to exclude or coerce nonbelievers.” Slip Op. at 23. So too

here: Nevada’s protection of the man-woman definition of marriage as part of “a

larger exercise” directed at maximizing the number of children raised by both a

mother and a father likewise shows that the “purpose and effect” of that definition

are not to harm gays and lesbians or their families. See Coalition Answering Br. at

34-48, 99-100.

Respectfully submitted,

___/s/___

Monte Neil Stewart

Counsel for Appellee Coalition for the

Protection of Marriage

Attachment

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