NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WMOT) -- Tennessee’s Attorney General is praising the performance of the lawyer who represented the state yesterday in the same sex marriage case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Assistant Solicitor General Counsel Joe Whalen was chosen to represent Tennessee and three other states during oral arguments in the landmark case. Whalen successfully argued Tennessee’s case before the federal Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals last year.
In his first appearance before the Supreme Court, Whalen argued the part of the case that deals with whether the 14th Amendment requires every state to recognize a same sex marriage performed in any state.
Surprisingly, Whalen faced the sharpest questioning from the court’s most conservative member, Antonin Scalia.
Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery released a press statement after the court proceeding saying that Whalen, “represented well the State of Tennessee.”
Tennessee’s constitution bans same sex marriage and refuses to recognize gay marriages legally performed in other states.