On March 21, after 5 p.m. EDT, Judge Friedman ruled for the plaintiffs without staying enforcement of his decision. In ruling that the Michigan Marriage Amendment violated equal protection, Friedman found it unnecessary to address the Due Process Clause or levels of scrutiny higher than rational review. The state defendants asserted that the same-sex marriage ban furthered legitimate state interests in providing an optimal environment for child rearing, proceeding with caution before altering the traditional definition of marriage, and upholding tradition and morality. Friedman wrote that the first interest could logically be used to "require that only rich, educated, suburban-dwelling, married Asians may marry, to the exclusion of all other heterosexual couples." He wrote that an interest in proceeding with caution can be asserted in any setting and that "any deprivation of constitutional rights calls for prompt rectification".
