Nathaniel Smith, M.d., Mph

Summary

The court reversed and dismissed the circuit court’s judgment granting same-sex spouses amended birth certificates, holding that the prior Wright orders did not preclude the case and that the challenged birth-certificate statutes were not facially unconstitutional. It concluded that the statutes use biological parentage, rather than marital status, as the governing criterion and that the State’s interests in accurate vital records and public-health information satisfy due-process and equal-protection requirements. The court declined to consider a separate artificial-insemination statute because the issue was not preserved. Justice Danielson, dissenting, would have affirmed; Chief Justice Brill and Justice Wood would have granted relief or remanded on narrower grounds concerning the effect of Obergefell, changed facts, and statutory implementation.