Ten states have filed an amicus brief with a federal appeals court opposing same-sex marriage.

The states of Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, South Carolina and Virginia joined together to file the brief, according to the Casper Star-Tribune.

"If public affirmation of anyone and everyone's personal love and commitment is the single purpose of marriage, a limitless number of rights claims could be set up that evacuate the term marriage of any meaning," the brief stated.

The brief argues the states, not the federal courts, should have the final say on the definition of marriage.

Voters passed California's Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage last year, but a federal judge struck it down. Judge Vaughn Walker ruled there was no legitimate state interest in preventing same-sex marriage and that "moral disapproval" alone wasn't a sufficient reason to justify banning it.

"The California voters spoke, and that should be honored," said Becky Vandeberghe, of WyWatch Family Action, a Wyoming-based family-values group that opposes gay marriage. "We don't believe that judges should be overruling what the will of the people is."