the U.S. Supreme Court. On April 22, 2014, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the State in Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action. Adultery law Cox received nationwide press in 2007 when the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that adultery could be prosecuted as first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a resulting life in prison sentence. This unanimous decision was reached as a result of an appeal sought by Cox's office on a drug case that touched in part on this strange loophole in the law. In November 2005, Cox himself admitted to committing adultery while accusing Oakland County lawyer Geoffrey Fieger of blackmail, claiming that he threatened to reveal the affair if Cox did not drop an investigation into Fieger's campaign finance violations. Cox said his personal conduct was "inexcusable" and had reconciled with his wife. Pursuant to MCL 750.31, however, only Cox himself, his wife, or parties to the marriage (if any) of the co-adulterer or adulterers with whom he committed felonies may pursue a complaint for prosecution of felony adultery. Cox did not recuse himself from the decision to file a complaint for prosecution of his adultery notwithstanding the apparent conflict of interest. Health care Cox joined nineteen other state attorneys general, all but one being Republican, in challenging the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act after its passage. Critics contended that this action was a political move because Cox was running for governor. Timothy Stoltzfus Jost, a professor of law at the Washington and Lee University, has criticized this unusual move as being not only "frivolous" but a waste of taxpayers' dollars. Same-sex marriage In April 2013, Cox became one of the first high-profile Republicans in Michigan to support same-sex marriage. Cox urged the legislature to overturn the 2004 constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and civil unions. Cox said his views "evolved", and went on to say "Usually, I hate it when politicians say their views have evolved, but I guess mine have," Cox said. "Part of it is I've just become more libertarian. I still think of myself as a social conservative." 2010 campaign for governor Cox filed paperwork to explore a bid for governor in 2008, and was the first person to form an exploratory committee. The Republican nominee in 2006, Dick DeVos, announced in November 2008 that he was not going to seek the GOP nomination in 2010. In March 2009, the