A number of commenters have asked about the relationship between law and marriage. Some, for example, have taken issue with the statement in my paper’s abstract that “marriage is primarily a creature of state law.” So I thought it was worth explaining a little but more about the relationship between state law and marriage. Obviously, […]
Archive | Same-Sex Marriage
DOMA and Its Discontents
By William Baude, guest-blogging on December 12, 2011 8:15 am in Beyond DOMA, Constitutional Law, DOMA, Same-Sex Marriage, Uncategorized
Thanks to Eugene and the conspiracy for having me here. In my first post I thought I’d explain what the Defense of Marriage Act does and the circumstances under which it may be held unconstitutional. We can get into the choice-of-law stuff later. (The act, by the way, is known as “DOMA,” which gives rise […]
William Baude, Guest-Blogging
I’m delighted to report that Wiliiam Baude will be guest-blogging for us this coming week. Will is a fellow at the Stanford Law School Constitutional Law Center, a former clerk for then-Judge Michael McConnell on the Tenth Circuit and then for Chief Justice John Roberts, the author of Signing Unconstitutional Laws, 86 Indiana Law Journal […]
Ninth Circuit Now Free to Decide the Merits of the Constitutional Challenge to Prop. 8
The California Supreme Court has just decided that the official proponents of an enacted initiative — the group that got it onto the ballot — may, under California law, assert the state’s interest in defending the initiative when state officials refuse to do so. This means, given the Ninth Circuit earlier analysis of the matter, […]
Debate with Maggie Gallagher, Round 467
This time we were debating a proposed amendment to the Minnesota state constitution banning same-sex marriages, although the focus was on the merits of same-sex marriage itself. The debate was held at the University of St. Thomas Law School in Minneapolis and was hosted by the Terence J. Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law and Public […]
“Harassment” of SSM Opponents in Washington State
By Dale Carpenter on October 19, 2011 12:45 am in Election Law, First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, Same-Sex Marriage
Yesterday, in Doe v. Reed, Federal District Judge Benjamin Settle rejected an as-applied challenge on First Amendment grounds to a Washington state law requiring the public disclosure of the names of initiative signers. The initiative in question would have blocked the legislatively approved recognition of domestic partnerships. (The initiative made it onto the state ballot but […]
Federalist Society Events This Week
By Dale Carpenter on September 26, 2011 10:16 am in Federalist Society, Gay Marriage, Same-Sex Marriage
This week I’ll be discussing same-sex marriage at two different student chapters of the Federalist Society. One is today at noon at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. Tomorrow is at 12:30 at the University of Kansas School of Law in Lawrence. In both places, my sparring partner will be Dale Schowengerdt of […]
“This bill is about democracy”
That’s how the North Carolina state senator who’s sponsoring the anti-SSM amendment began his speech today. Others are citing “statistics” that show a married mother and father provide the best structure for raising children — though the studies compare opposite-sex couples to single parents, not gay parents. You can watch the debate live here. UPDATE: […]
Ninth Circuit Decision Suggesting That Opposite-Sex-Only Marriage Rules Are Unconstitutional?
That’s what Diaz v. Brewer looks like to me, though the case approaches the question indirectly. Here’s a brief summary: 1. Arizona used to provide health-care benefits for spouses of state employees (as well as dependent children, but that’s not relevant here). In April 2008 an administrative regulation expanded this to include domestic partners, both […]
Public School Teacher Reassigned Following Anti-Same-Sex-Marriage Facebook Post [UPDATE: Teacher Has Since Been Reinstated]
[UPDATE: The teacher has now been reinstated.] CNN reports: A former “teacher of the year” in Lake County, Florida, has been reassigned while school administrators investigate comments posted on his Facebook page about same-sex marriage…. [S]chool officials received a complaint Tuesday about the content on Mount Dora High School teacher Jerry Buell’s personal Facebook page […]
Symposium on Same-Sex Marriage
By Dale Carpenter on August 18, 2011 6:21 pm in Federalism, Gay Marriage, Religious Freedom, Same-Sex Marriage
This week and next, SCOTUSblog is hosting an online symposium on various aspects of the litigation challenging California’s Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act. The expected contributors are well-known combatants in the ongoing national debate over gay marriage: Carlos Ball, Bob Barr, Thomas Berg, Erwin Chemerinsky, David Cruz, William C. Duncan, John Eastman, William Eskridge, […]
Gay Marriage Vote in N.Y. Senate Tonight?
It looks like a long-anticipated vote on whether to approve same-sex marriage will be held in the state senate, perhaps tonight. As of now, 31 of the 62 senators have publicly supported it. Two Republicans are counted among those 31, and the search has been on for at least one additional GOP vote. The price […]
$14,000 Fine (Plus Order to Apologize) in South Africa for Anti-Homosexuality Op-Ed and Cartoon
The story (which, among other things, argued that the South African Constitution should be changed to reject same-sex marriage rights) and cartoon (which suggested that recognition of same-sex marriage would logically justify recognition of human-animal marriage) are here. The account of the court decision is in the Mail & Guardian; here’s an excerpt: Former Sunday […]
Civil Unions Begin in Illinois
By Dale Carpenter on June 1, 2011 1:57 pm in Civil Unions, Gay Marriage, Same-Sex Marriage, Uncategorized
They’re not quite registering June brides, but the joyous end of American civilization has legislatively spread to Cook County and the rest of the Land of Lincoln. Starting today, the state is granting all of the rights and privileges of marriage under state law to same-sex couples. With all the recent excitement in Minnesota over the effort to […]
In Minnesota, We Shall Overcome
By Dale Carpenter on May 22, 2011 5:17 pm in Constitutional Law, Gay Marriage, Same-Sex Marriage, State Constitutional Law
Last night the Minnesota legislature capped a three-week end-of-session effort to ban same-sex marriage. The state senate approved the amendment on May 11. It then went to the state house of representatives. In the end, the vote was 70-62 in favor, two more than the 68 needed for passage onto the ballot. Sixty-eight Republicans (the […]