Marriage ruling gave gay people legal protection

02/23/09 San Diego Union-Tribune: "Tucked deep within the state Supreme Court's sweeping decision in May that struck down same-sex-marriage bans for a time is a single sentence that will have a significant effect for years – regardless of any new turns in the same-sex-marriage debate ... If the court upholds Proposition 8, gays and lesbians will still have an important legal victory going forward with the heightened status the court granted them in May."

Loyola University Law Professor Karl Manheim filed an amicus brief in the Prop. 8 litigation, seeking its invalidation. He believes that the strict scrutiny standard in In re Marriage Cases makes it somewhat easier for the California Supreme Court to overturn Prop. 8, on grounds that it represents an unconstitutional revision. "Without the designation of sexual orientation as a special legal class, attacking Proposition 8 as an overbroad revision 'would be a much harder argument to make,' Manheim said."

02/24/09 LawBeat Comments: This blog is affiliated with The Carnegie Legal Reporting Program at Newhouse. Professor and blogger Mark Obbie "watches the journalists who watch the law." He finds that San Diego Union-Tribune Reporter Greg Moran has made a "valiant attempt at educating the public about important and complex legal realities. "