Religious leaders are calling on liberal members of the Supreme Court to abstain from involvement in the gay marriage case before the court, accusing them of ideological bias.
Scott Lively, president of Abiding Truth Ministries, said he's filing a motion with the Supreme Court calling for the recusal of Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan,
according to The Hill.
"Justices Ginsburg and Kagan, knowing full well that unique legal issues regarding the definition of marriage would soon come before them, deliberately officiated at so-called homosexual wedding ceremonies creating not merely the appearance of bias, but an actual and blatant conflict of interest," he said.
"In my personal view they have committed an unparalleled breach of judicial ethics by elevating the importance of their own favored political cause of gay rights above the integrity of the court and of our nation."
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges, which will determine the constitutionality of same-sex marriage bans in Ohio, Tennessee, Michigan and Kentucky and whether states must recognize the legality of gay marriages conducted outside those states.
Lively said Kagan and Ginsburg's "vividly demonstrated disposition" in favor of same-sex marriage shows they are unable to deliver a fair judgment, The Hill reported.
Outside the court, Lively was joined by more than a dozen leaders of anti-gay marriage groups with a display of 60 cardboard boxes intended to "symbolically" represent 300,000 restraining orders that Faith2Action President Janet Porter said will be delivered to the Supreme Court and to Congress to keep the justices from ruling on gay marriage.
"We have appealed to Congress to restrain the judges, and the good news is Congress has heard our cry," Porter said, according to The Hill.
"Congress has the ability to remove appellate jurisdiction," Porter added. "What that means is, we can actually take from them their right to rule on marriage before they even rule on marriage."