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Sen. Orrin Hatch: Gay marriage will be 'law of the land'

The U.S. Supreme Court is likely to legalize gay marriage around the country, Sen. Orrin Hatch says.

By Frances Burns
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) leaves the Senate Chambers for votes related to the budget, on March 22, 2013 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. UPI/Kevin Dietsch
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) leaves the Senate Chambers for votes related to the budget, on March 22, 2013 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. UPI/Kevin Dietsch | License Photo

SALT LAKE CITY, May 29 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who supports an amendment defining marriage as heterosexual, predicts same-sex marriage will soon be "the law of the land."

In an interview Wednesday on KSL Radio in Salt Lake City, Hatch even had kind words for two federal judges who gave rulings in Utah that he disagrees with. U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby ruled in December that the state's constitutional ban on gay marriage violates the U.S. Constitution, while his colleague, Dale Kimball, ordered Utah last week to recognize about 1,000 same-sex marriages contracted before another court granted a stay.

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Hatch said Utah has "an excellent federal bench."

"Other federal judges down there might not have arrived at the same conclusion that these two have," he said. "But I think it's a portent of the future that sooner or later gay marriage is probably going to be approved by the Supreme Court of the United States, certainly as the people in this country move towards it, especially young people."

Hatch says on his website that unelected judges should not decide the issue. But he said Wednesday the "trend" in the courts is clearly heading in the other direction.

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"Let's face it, anybody who does not believe that gay marriage is going to be the law of the land just hasn't been observing what's going on," Hatch said.

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