Brewer dissents from federal appeals court cuts

> Brewer dissents from federal appeals court cuts Lawyers representing Arizona's governor recently filed a review petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the Supreme Court to overturn lower...

Lawyers representing Arizona's governor recently filed a review petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court's ruling that prohibits the state from stopping benefits for state employees who are legally married to same-sex couples.

The federal appeals court ruling in Arizona is part of the state's budget law. In 2008, Brewer's predecessor, then-governor Janet Napolitano, a Democrat who is now the U.S. Department of Homeland Security secretary, made the decision to cut benefits for same-sex couples in the state.

A federal judge has ruled that the state can cut benefits for opposite-sex couples because only opposite-sex couples are legal to marry in Arizona. But a judge ruled that the state's cuts to benefits for same-sex couples were illegal based on Arizona's law that illegal same-sex couples.

> Brewer said the case is a human rights issue for the state. She said the state has the right to determine its own funding priorities without federal concern.