State of Ohio v. Carswell

Summary by Lambda Legal

(Lambda Legal also participated as amicus in cases before intermediate appellate courts that involved the same issue: Ohio v. Burk; Ohio v. McIntosh; Ohio v. Nixon; Ohio v. Rodgers; Ohio v. Steineman; City of Cleveland v. Voies)

In late 2004 Ohio voters passed an antigay constitutional amendment (Article XV, Section 11) banning marriage for same-sex couples. Ohio v. Carswell is just one of numerous cases in which a criminal defendant argues that he cannot be prosecuted for domestic violence because he is not married to the person he is accused of abusing. Specifically, he claims that the amendment makes Ohio’s domestic violence law unconstitutional when applied to nonmarital relationships.

Lambda Legal participated in six of these domestic violence cases before intermediate appellate courts in order to instruct these courts on the proper way to interpret Ohio’s antigay amendment, making clear that it does not leave unmarried people at risk in the face of domestic violence. Carswell is the first of these cases to reach the Ohio Supreme Court, and the court ruled that the amendment cannot be used to take away the rights of unmarried people and has no effect on the state’s domestic violence law. For more information visit: www.lambdalegal.org/in-court/cases/ohio-v-carswell