While we’ve been focusing on whether proponent-intervenors have standing under Article III to defend a citizen initiative, gay marriage is taking hold in Mexico. Over the past few weeks, that country’s supreme court has decided three important cases on the issue. On March 4, Mexico City’s council voted to recognize SSM. In the first of its decisions, […]
Archive | Gay Marriage
More on Standing to Defend Prop. 8
There are quite a few interesting posts on the standing issues in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, including pieces by the following: Lyle Denniston (SCOTUSBlog) Vikram Amar (Writ) Howard Wasserman (Prawfsblawg) Michael Dorf (Dorf on Law) Emily Bazelon (Slate) Having thought about the question a little bit more, I think that the defenders of Proposition 8 do […]
Standing to Defend Prop. 8
On Thursday, Judge Vaughn Walker denied gay marraige opponents’ motion for a stay of his ruling in Perry v. Schwarzenegger declaring Proposition 8 to be unconstitutional. One of the reasons offered by Judge Walker was that he doubts whether Prop. 8’s defenders have standing to appeal his ruling. Although Judge Walker allowed them to intervene […]
Is Judge Walker’s Opinion Really that Compelling?
By now I’ve read dozens of blog posts and commentaries attesting to the power and persuasiveness of Judge Walker’s opinion striking down California’s Proposition 8 barring gay marriage. But as far as I can tell, everyone I’ve seen take this position was predisposed to accept Judge Walker’s conclusion. Lots of supporters of gay marriage and […]
DOMA case and the Tenth Amendment
By David Kopel on July 9, 2010 12:49 am in Constitutional Law, Federalism, Gay Marriage, Health Care, Tenth Amendment
Jack Balkin has an interesting post on today’s two Defense of Marriage Act cases from the federal District of Massachusetts, Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, and Massachusetts v. HHS. The latter case found DOMA unconstitutional, as applied to Massachusetts, because DOMA violates the Tenth Amendment by infringing the state’s traditional core sovereign power of defining […]
DOMA Section 3 Unconstitutional, Says Massachusetts District Court
By Dale Carpenter on July 8, 2010 5:41 pm in Federalism, Gay Marriage, Same-Sex Marriage, Sexual Orientation, Spending Clause
That’s the decision this afternoon, based on equal protection principles applied to the federal government through the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause. Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 established a federal definition of marriage for the first time. This meant that the federal government could refuse to grant validly married same-sex […]
Family Research Council update
Perhaps partly in response to my VC post yesterday, the Family Research Council has corrected its prior claim that the conservative pro-gay group GOProud supported national handgun carry reciprocity as a means of advancing interstate recognition of gay marriages. As the FRC now correctly explains, the marriage argument was offered by Missouri Democratic Senator Claire […]
Family Research Council vs. the Second Amendment
A new piece from the Family Research Council blasts Grover Norquist (President of Americans for Tax Reform; Member of the Board of Directors of the National Rifle Association) for joining the board of GOProud, an organization of conservative gay Republicans. Among the alleged sins on the GOProud agenda : Equalize “concealed carry reciprocity” amendment with […]
Gay Marriage in Iceland
The vote in the parliament was 49-0. The bill must be approved by the president. Of interest: the legislature simultaneously ended domestic partnerships, which had been available only to same-sex couples as a substitute for marriage.
Chief Justice Roberts Denies Stay of D.C. Same-Sex Marriage Law
This evening, Chief Justice John Roberts, acting as the circuit justice for the District of Columbia, denied an application for a stay to prevent a law allowing same-sex marriage to take effect before there is a public referendum. Roberts’ opinion is here. More from Jan Crawford and SCOTUSBlog.
A Leading Judicial Indicator?
While the Supreme Court’s per curiam opinion today deals with legal matters apart from SSM, it is a potentially ominous development for the pro-SSM litigants. The majority here — split along familiar ideological lines, with Justice Kennedy joining (and Orin suggests, writing for) the majority — paints a picture of a district judge and to some extent […]
The Impact of Litigation on Prospects for Gay Marriage
Like co-bloggers Dale Carpenter and Jonathan Adler, I highly doubt that Ted Olson and David Boies will succeed in their case urging the Supreme Court to declare a federal constitutional right to gay marriage. At the same time, I differ with them somewhat in believing that gay marriage litigation has been a huge net plus […]
Olson’s Conservative Case for Gay Marriage
On the eve of a federal Prop 8 trial in a San Francisco district court, Ted Olson is channeling Andrew Sullivan and Jon Rauch. I agree with almost all of the essay, which is nicely and powerfully argued, except the idea that it isn’t “too soon” to pursue this in federal court. An ultimate loss in […]
Ted Olson’s Case for Gay Marriage
Ted Olson explains why he supports gay marriage and has joined with David Boies to file suit to support it. Many of my fellow conservatives have an almost knee-jerk hostility toward gay marriage. This does not make sense, because same-sex unions promote the values conservatives prize. Marriage is one of the basic building blocks of […]
Proposition 8’s Defenders Seek Stay of YouTube Order
Ed Whelan reports that counsel for the sponsors of California’s Proposition 8 — the ballot proposition that overturned gay marriage in the state — have filed an application for a stay of district court Judge Vaughn Walker’s order to have video of the the trial challenging Prop 8 posted on YouTube. While I have some […]