Author Archive | Dale Carpenter

A special poll of bloggers from The National Journal asked “Would it be politically smart for Republicans to try to block the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor?” Among the Left bloggers, the unanimous answer was “No.” On the Right, 53% said “No” and 47% said “Yes.” I voted “Yes,” and wrote: “The Democrats who tried […]

It’s apparently been filed by David Boies and, interestingly, Bush SG Ted Olson:

is now “the constitutional right to establish, with the person of one’s choice, an officially recognized and protected family relationship that enjoys all of the constitutionally based incidents of marriage (or, more briefly, the constitutional right to establish an officially recognized family relationship with the person of one’s choice).” Strauss v. Horton, p. 35. One […]

Under the decision of the California Supreme Court in Strauss v. Horton, would the following change to the state constitution be an amendment or a revision? Reserving the official designation of the term

Both of my grandfathers served, one in Europe and one in the Pacific. They lived with that war their entire lives but, like so many others, rarely talked about it. The National WWII Memorial has created a database to preserve the names and experiences of those who helped win the war, both in uniform and […]

After a longer-than-anticipated delay, the California Supreme Court will issue its opinion in the Proposition 8 challenge on Tuesday at 10 a.m. Pacific time. There are two basic questions before the court: (1) Is Prop 8 a valid “amendment” of the state constitution or an invalid “revision”? (2) If Prop 8 is valid, and thus […]

it includes broader religious exemptions. The statement Gov. John Lynch just released is available on his website. It will infuriate SSM opponents and puzzle many supporters. Lynch initially said he opposed same-sex marriage and thought the state’s civil unions law passed two years ago was good enough for gay couples. Now he says he’ll sign […]

This post continues a discussion I have been having with five law professors (Tom Berg, Carl Esbeck, Rick Garnett, Doug Laycock, and Robin Wilson) who have proposed that state legislation authorizing same-sex marriage should include a special, broad exemption for religious objectors. The proposal, my questions about it, and the professors’ responses can all be […]

The Governor just signed the bill, making Maine the fifth state to recognize the marriages of gay couples. Now get ready for the ballot fight. Opponents will move to collect the 55,000 signatures necessary to suspend the legislation until a referendum can be held.

The Vermont legislature overrides a governor’s veto to pass a gay-marriage bill. Same-sex marriages begin in Iowa, the state legislature and governor balk at banning it, and even state GOP leaders seem lackadaisical in opposition. The New Hampshire legislature approves a gay-marriage bill. The Maine Senate approves it. D.C. recognizes gay marriages from other states, […]

State house approval came last week. Today, the state senate voted in favor, 13-11. It’s unknown whether the governor will sign or veto the bill, but he has previously said he thinks the state’s civil-unions law is good enough and that further progress will require federal recognition. Protecting religious liberty as a “compromise” position on […]

to my questions about their proposal to provide broad religious-liberty exemptions in state statutes that recognize same-sex marriages. (I posted a separate response from Doug Laycock yesterday.) The four authors of this reply, all experts on religious freedom, are Robin Wilson, Carl Esbeck, Rick Garnett, and Tom Berg. Here is their reply, which has also […]

The Connecticut same-sex marriage bill passed overwhelmingly by the state legislature last night includes several provisions addressing concerns of religious-liberty advocates. Among them are these: Sec. 501. (NEW) (Effective from passage) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a religious organization, association or society, or any nonprofit institution or organization operated, supervised or controlled by or […]

to my questions about the meaning and potential applications of the proposal that he and four other academics have advanced for reconciling religious-liberty concerns and same-sex marriage. Here is his response: I wrote one of the two letters that Dale Carpenter references in his post on the same-sex marriage legislation in Connecticut. Let me say […]

In debates over same-sex marriage, much attention has recently been given to religious-liberty concerns. For example, the award-winning ad campaign to pass Prop 8 in California focused heavily on how SSM might erode the liberty of religious objectors. For reasons I gave here almost a year ago, I’m not convinced that gay marriage adds much […]