Universities and local governments that offer health insurance to the partners of gay workers are violating a 2004 amendment to the Michigan Constitution concerning marriage, the state attorney general's office argued Tuesday in court. Eric Restuccia, a lawyer for Attorney General Mick Cox, said giving the same benefits to same-sex partners that now go to spouses and children puts domestic partnerships on a similar footing as marriage, even though the constitutional amendment limited marriage to a man and a woman. Restuccia added that nothing would stop public employers from offering benefits to same-sex partners, as long as they also are given to workers' relatives or possibly others they designate. An attorney for the University of Michigan and Wayne State University told the court that the cost of covering health care for those who aren't spouses, children or domestic partners would be "astronomical."