The United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has struck down the marriage laws of Idaho and Nevada, paving the way for same-sex marriage in the states. Responding to the October 7 decision, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, chairman of the US bishops Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, said that authentic marriage as the union of one man and one woman is the only institution that unites a man and a woman with each other and with any child who comes from their union.