Marriage equality has been the law of the land for almost two years, but not everyone is ready to accept settled law. One man, Chris Sevier, has been trying to defeat same-sex marriage with an ongoing campaign to try to marry his laptop.
In the latest development, the Utah Attorney General’s Office was forced to state in a new court ruling that there is no constitutional right to marry a laptop, KSTU-TV reports.
Lawyers for the state asked a federal judge to dismiss the suit, filed against Governor Gary Herbert, Attorney General Sean Reyes, and Utah County Clerk Bryan Thompson.
“These claims are untenable as a matter of law because Plaintiffs lack standing to bring these claims and the right to marry has not been indefinitely expanded, nor should it be. Simply put, marrying a laptop computer or multiple partners are not rights protected by the Constitution,” assistant Utah Attorney General David Wolf wrote in the filing.
Wolf noted that a federal judge cannot overturn a Supreme Court ruling, which is not possible, as well as pointing out that a laptop cannot consent to marriage, and that “unless Sevier’s computer has attained the age of fifteen it is too young to marry under Utah law.”
He amended his most recent lawsuit in Utah to include John Gunter, Jr. and Whitney Kohl, who want the right to enter into a polygamous marriage. The state argued that there polygamous communities can bring harm to women and that it “violates norms of gender equality and is rooted in deeply patriarchal principles.”
The lack of the third party wishing to marry Gunter and Kohl participating in the lawsuit was also stated as an issue in moving forward with any proceedings regarding their case.
“A challenge to the state’s prohibition against polyamory cannot exist without at least three parties seeking a marriage license,” the filing reads.
Sevier, who sued Apple in 2013 because it wasn’t protecting him from his porn addiction, intervened in two cases challenging same-sex marriage bans, one in Florida and one in Utah, in 2014, both times arguing that he should be able to marry his computer.
Last year, he filed a similar suit in Texas.
More recently, he filed suit against Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis for denying him a license to marry his laptop.
Sevier has also been accused of stalking by country music singer-songwriter John Rich.
