Washington, D.C. – The following statement may be attributed to John Eastman, Chairman of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), Director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence at the Claremont Institute and Professor of Law and former Dean at Chapman University School of Law:

“We are disappointed in the ruling today denying the National Organization for Marriage the ability to intervene in this case. We believe that our members in the state and the people of Oregon are entitled to a vigorous defense of the marriage amendment adopted overwhelmingly by Oregon voters. We disagree with the Judge’s finding that our motion was untimely. Although her unwillingness to defend Oregon’s law has been known for some time, the state Attorney General made clear only in April that she would not appeal a ruling invalidating the marriage amendment. We believe it is imperative that a party be able to appeal any adverse ruling and that we are entitled under the law to intervene to defend the measure and appeal any adverse ruling. For this reason, we will be filing an appeal of today’s ruling with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals seeking a reversal of this decision.”