The California case is one of two challenges to laws barring gay marriage that the Supreme Court is hearing this week. Today, the court will hear the first challenge it has accepted to the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
Recent polls suggest a rapidly growing number of Americans support allowing same-sex couples to marry, but there is no guarantee the conservative-leaning court rule in a similar direction.
Gay marriage foes have expressed confidence that the justices will rule their way, and even some gay rights activists have worried that the court has taken up the issue too soon. Supporters of same-sex marriage hope for a ruling that will be the 21st century equivalent of the court’s 1967 decision in Loving v. Virginia that struck down state bans on interracial marriage.
Several justices, including some liberals who seemed open to gay marriage, raised doubts during a riveting 80-minute argument that the case was properly before them. And Justice Anthony Kennedy, the potentially decisive vote on a closely divided court, suggested that the court could dismiss the case with no ruling at all.
Such an outcome would almost certainly allow gay marriages to resume in California but would have no impact elsewhere. The court is considering a legal challenge to Proposition 8, the gay marriage ban that California voters approved just five years ago.
Justice Samuel Alito appeared to advocate a cautious approach to the issue, describing gay marriage as newer than such rapidly changing technological advances as cellphones and the Internet.
“You want us to assess the effect of same-sex marriage,” Alito said to Solicitor General Donald Verrilli. “It may turn out to be a good thing. It may turn out to be not a good thing.”
Kennedy said he feared the court would go into “uncharted waters” if it embraced arguments advanced by gay marriage supporters. But lawyer Theodore Olson, representing two same-sex couples, said that the courts similarly ventured into the unknown in 1967 when it struck down bans on interracial marriage in 16 states.
Kennedy challenged the accuracy of that comment by noting that other countries had interracial marriages for hundreds of years.
Chief Justice John Roberts told Olson that it seemed supporters of gay marriage were trying to change the meaning of the word “marriage” by including same-sex couples.
There was no majority apparent for any particular outcome and many doubts expressed about the arguments advanced by lawyers for the opponents of gay marriage in California, by the supporters and by the Obama administration, which is in favor of same-sex marriage rights.
Charles Cooper, representing the people who helped get Proposition 8 on the ballot, ran into resistance over his argument that the court should uphold the ban as a valid expression of the people’s will and let the vigorous political debate over gay marriage continue.
Here, Kennedy suggested that Cooper’s argument did not take account of the estimated 40,000 children who have same-sex parents. “The voices of these children are important, don’t you think?” Kennedy said.
The case, having wound its way to the high court, could produce a number of rulings, ranging from upholding the California ban to striking it down in a fashion that would erase such bans nationwide. The court is not expected to rule before late June.
Public opinion on the topic of gay and lesbian rights in the United States has undergone one of the most rapid evolutions in recent political history. According to a Pew Research Center poll conducted in mid-March, 49 percent of Americans now favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally, with 44 percent opposed. A decade ago, just 33 percent were in favor and 58 percent were opposed.
Nine states and the district of Washington allow same-sex marriage, while 12 others recognize “civil unions” or “domestic partnerships” that grant the same benefits without full rights of marriage. The 29 other states ban gay marriage in their constitutions.
The administration of President Barack Obama, who declared his support for gay marriage last year, has weighed in on behalf of the two same-sex couples who brought the California case.
As more gay and lesbian couples are in public view, Americans can see “there are real families who are impacted. People have seen there has been no negative impact [from gay marriage]. It’s only the exclusion from marriage that has a negative impact,” said Jennifer Levi, professor of law at Western New England University.
The case before the high court came together four years ago when the two couples, Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, and Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo, agreed to be the named plaintiffs and become the public faces of a well-funded, high-profile effort to challenge Proposition 8 in the courts.
The fight began in 2004 when San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom ordered city officials to issue marriage licenses. Six months later, the state Supreme Court invalidated the same-sex unions. Less than four years later, however, the same state court overturned California’s prohibition on same-sex unions. Then, in the same election that put Obama in the White House in 2008, California voters approved Proposition 8, undoing the court ruling and defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman.
Roughly 18,000 couples were wed in the nearly five months that same-sex marriage was legal and those marriages remain valid in California.
The high-profile case has brought together two one-time Supreme Court opponents. Olson, a Republican, and Democrat David Boies are leading the legal team representing the same-sex couples. They argued against each other in the Bush v. Gore case that settled the disputed 2000 presidential election in favor of George W. Bush.
Next up is the first challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act, the 1996 measure signed into law by former President Bill Clinton. Both he and his wife, potential 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, recently reversed course and now support same-sex marriage. The law, known as DOMA, forbids nationwide recognition of same-sex marriages and bars married gay and lesbian couples from receiving federal benefits.
Would-be spectators to both cases waited in line for days — even through light snow — for coveted seats to the arguments. Actor-director Rob Reiner, who helped lead the fight against California’s Proposition 8, was at the head of the line Tuesday morning.
Read More
Need to know before you go: ‘A Conversation with David Letterman and Caitlin Clark:’
By Staff Reports / 5 hours agoThe use of cellphones, camera, and many other recording devices will not be permitted into the event space. Phones will be secured into Yonder pouches.
The Muncie Area Career Center is working to better educate community members
By Trinity Rea / 6 days agoThrough Adult Education and Career and Technical Education (CTE) based learning, the Muncie Area Career Center is looking to help educate members of Delaware, Randolph and Blackford country.
Therapy dogs help relieve students' stress
By Dylan Chesnut / November 25, 2024With finals coming up, Ball State students got the chance to hang with these furry friends.
