Update: Idaho Faces Skeptical Judges

Idaho’s arguments in favor of its invalidated ban on same-sex marriage came in for tough and skeptical questioning from a panel of 9th Circuit judges today. Monte Neil Stewart, a private attorney from Boise who argued on behalf of Idaho Gov. Butch Otter and Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, said legalizing same-sex marriage would be worse for Idaho kids than the expansion of divorce that followed no-fault divorce laws. “We think the effects will be much worse,” he told the court. 9th Circuit Judge Marsha Berzon, one of three judges on the randomly selected panel that heard Idaho’s case this afternoon in San Francisco, asked Stewart the percentage of children who grow up in what he described as the ideal environment – being reared by their married, biological mother and father. Stewart said in Idaho, it’s 68 percent up until age 6, and 58 percent up to age 17. That’s among the highest rates in the country, he said/ Betsy Russell , SR. More here.

Thoughts?