[Second draft of history. My prior posting on this week’s ruling in the DOMA and Prop 8 cases was written shortly after the opinion was release, and was intended as a basis for my journalistic comment to be published in Gay City News that day. Herewith my more extensive draft, reflecting further thought and containing many more quotes from the Court’s opinion, written two days later. And amended after a few hours to reflect some
Proposition 8
Supreme Court Invalidates Section 3 of DOMA but Avoids Ruling on Proposition 8
[First draft of history. This posting was written within the first few hours after the Supreme Court’s release of its decisions this morning in US v. Windsor and Hollingsworth v. Perry. I’ll certainly have second thoughts and third thoughts, etc…. but this is the first draft of history.]
In a pair of 5-4 rulings released on June 26, the United States Supreme Court held that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) violates … <Read More>
Supreme Court Argument on Proposition 8 Strongly Suggests There is No Majority to Rule on the Merits
On the tenth anniversary of its oral argument in Lawrence v. Texas, the historic 2003 ruling striking down laws against consensual gay sex, the U.S. Supreme Court took up the contentious issue of same-sex marriage on March 26, 2013, having granted a petition by four of the proponents of Proposition 8 to review the lower courts’ rulings that the California anti-same-sex marriage constitutional amendment (adopted by voters in 2008) violates the Equal Protection Clause of … <Read More>
Obama Administration Files Amicus Brief in Opposition to Proposition 8
On February 28, the Obama Administration weighed in on Hollingsworth v. Perry, No. 12-144, the pending challenging in the Supreme Court by the American Federation for Equal Rights (AFER) to California Proposition 8, by filing an amicus brief arguing that the Court should declare California’s constitutional provision limiting marriage to the union of a man and a woman to be unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment. The government is the Petitioner in the companion case
… <Read More> Prop 8 Case: The Respondents Weigh In
Briefs have now been filed on behalf of the Prop 8 Respondents, the two same-sex couples on whose behalf the lawsuit challenging California Proposition 8 was filed, and the City and County of San Francisco, which was allowed by District Judge Walker to intervene as a co-plaintiff in the case. These briefs, filed in Hollingsworth v. Perry, No. 12-144, on February 21, are different in their focus, reflecting the different roles of the plaintiffs and … <Read More>
Merits Briefs in Supreme Court Marriage Cases Make Heavy Federalism Pitch
On January 22, attorneys defending against constitutional challenges to California Proposition 8 and Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act filed their briefs on the merits with the United States Supreme Court. Links to the briefs can be found on the Supreme Court’s website: click on the Docket box on the left side of the site and there is a link to the special page set up for these cases (Hollingsworth v. Perry; … <Read More>