Michigan couple file same-sex marriage petition with US Supreme Court

DETROIT – Constitutional law experts say April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse's case is ideal for high court consideration because the original case before Judge Bernard Friedman in Detroit was so complete.

"Where testimony was given by experts who were able to testify to the fact that there was no rational basis for denying same-sex marriage," said Larry Dubin, law professor at the University of Detroit-Mercy.

In their petition to the court The Hazel Park nurses say: "Gay and lesbian citizens in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee are denied the fundamental freedom and equal right to marry, and their families are deprived of the status, dignity, security, and stability that marriage brings."

However, the court of appeals ruled the will of the voters who chose the ban cannot be undone.

Read: US court upholds Michigan's ban on same-sex marriage

Rowse and DeBoer are raising three special needs children they adopted separately. They want to marry so the children can stay together should something happen to one of them.

Adding children parties to this case could be critical to Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is expected to be the swing vote.

"(Kennedy) wrote in an earlier opinion called Windsor that laws that prohibit same-sex couples from marrying, and this is his words not mine, 'humiliate the children of same sex couples,'" said Dan Ray, law professor at Cooley Law School.

Complete coverage: Fight over Michigan's gay marriage ban