I summarize the ruling here , and Brisbane family law practitioner Stephen Page summarizes it here. New York Law School Professor Arthur Leonard provides his analysis here.
Press Comments: Impact in California and West Virginia
04/04/09 Washington Post:
"Justices look at opinions from other states," said Jennifer C. Pizer, the national marriage project director for Lambda Legal, which brought the Iowa case. "There's a significant likelihood that [the decision] will influence other states, like California."
04/03/09 NY Times:
Camilla Taylor, a senior staff lawyer for Lambda, said the Supreme Court ruling in a way was merely "vindicating quintessential Iowa values," namely, a commitment to families. That this battle was being waged in Iowa, Ms. Taylor said, would have a "transformative effect" not just on the Midwest, but elsewhere.
"The fact that it's here in some way highlights the inevitability of this all," she said.
04/04/09 Palm Springs Desert Sun:
Shannon Minter is legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), and participated in the Prop. 8 litigation oral arguments. NCLR filed an amicus brief in the Iowa case. This article produces a statement from NCLR's press release:
"The eyes of California and the world are now on the California Supreme Court, which must determine whether equal protection means equal, and whether Californians will continue to share that equality in the freedom to marry. We hope the California Supreme Court will uphold the principle of equality, just as the Iowa Supreme Court has done.”
04/03/09 Liberty Counsel press release:
Mathew Staver is founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law. He filed motions to intervene and amicus briefs in the Prop. 8 litigation and the Varnum case. In his press release, he said:
"The definition of marriage, which throughout history has been defined as a union of one man and one woman, is not discriminatory. Maintaining the definition of marriage does not deprive anyone of the fundamental right to marry. Laws may properly restrict marriage of same-sex couples just as the law may forbid incestuous or polygamous marriages."
He also told the Washington Post:
"The Iowa Supreme Court has become a proselytizing engine of radical social change. Untying the knot that holds together traditional marriage will unravel the family, destabilize the culture and harm children."
04/04/09 SF Chronicle:
UC Hastings School of Law Professor Calvin Massey said, ""I think you're likely to see more victories in judicial chambers for advocates of same-sex marriage. The judiciary in general is more liberal on this issue than the population as a whole."
04/04/09 LA Times:
University of Southern California law professor David Cruz told the LA Times that the ruling could influence the California Supreme Court's decision on Prop. 8 "if there are justices who are still wavering one way or another."
"It shows them that a Republican appointee writing for a unanimous court in a not decidedly liberal state takes the view that there are basic constitutional guarantees that are especially important for the judiciary to enforce," Cruz said.
"The opinion is very, very careful to lay out its understanding of the role of the judiciary at some length and to defend that role," Cruz said, adding that the ruling dealt heavily with "the importance of an independent judiciary enforcing constitutional rights even if they might be unpopular with a large majority."
04/03/09 West Virginia MetroNews:
Speaking about a proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, [attorney] Steven Skinner, with Fairness West Virginia says what happens in Iowa will stay in Iowa. "This is an Iowa decision on Iowa law based on the Iowa Constitution," Skinner said on Friday's MetroNews Talkline. "It really has no effect in West Virginia and we need to make sure that we stay calm about what this means because it really doesn't mean anything in West Virginia."
Source of MetroNews reference: 04/03/09 ADF Alliance Alert
04/04/09 Christian Science Monitor:
"The strongest argument for traditional marriage has always been anchored in faith," says Douglas Kmiec, a law professor at California's Pepperdine University and an opponent of same-sex marriage. "The issue is one that affects every part of the country and it is a topic that requires the balancing of claims of equality and religious freedom," he adds.
He argues that legislatures need to carve out explicit religious exemptions. These would ensure that legal protections for gay equality do not eventually impact churches' tax benefits, hiring practices, and public activities. He and others have also mooted removing the state from marriage altogether.
Blog Posts
04/04/09 NY Times Room for Debate Blog:
"The Iowa Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional the state’s 1998 law limiting marriage to a man and a woman. Iowa now becomes the third state in the country, along with Massachusetts and Connecticut, to allow gay marriage. The decision is considered groundbreaking because no Midwestern state has permitted same-sex marriage, and at least six in the region have adopted constitutional amendments banning gay marriage.
"We asked Kenji Yoshino and Robert F. Nagel, two constitutional law scholars who’ve written about this issue, to give us their thoughts on the decision and the language of the court."
04/04/09 Sexual Orientation and the Law Blog:
"Professor Pat Cain, who helped organize a law and history professors' amicus brief in Varnum, writes in today's Iowa City Press-Citizen that unlike the California constitution, Iowa's constitution wisely does not allow the people to amend the constitution directly. Iowa's constitution, as the Iowa Supreme Court emphasized today, protects our 'republican form of government.' Under this form of government, the legislative branch enacts legislation and the courts serve as a check on that legislative power to protect individual freedoms and ensure equal treatment."
04/09/09 Gender & Sexuality Law Blog:
Law professor Katherine M. Franke is Director of Columbia Law School's Gender & Sexuality Law Program. She writes:
The court also makes every effort to situate the marriage case within the context of local Iowan values. Whether it was a refusal to recognize the legitimacy of slavery in 1839, a recognition that racial segregation violated the Iowa Constitution in 1873 long before the U.S. Supreme Court did in 1954, or being the first state to grant women the right to practice law in 1869, Iowans have had their own strong sense of justice and fairness, and as the court noted, “in each of these instances, our state approached a fork in the road toward fulfillment of our constitution’s ideals and reaffirmed the ‘absolute equality of all’ persons before the law as ‘the very foundation principle of our government.’”
IN ACCORDANCE WITH TITLE 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107, THIS MATERIAL IS DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT PROFIT TO THOSE WHO HAVE EXPRESSED A PRIOR INTEREST IN RECEIVING THE INCLUDED INFORMATION FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. PROP8LEGALCOMMENTARY HAS NO AFFILIATION WHATSOEVER WITH THE ORIGINATOR OF THIS ARTICLE NOR IS PROP8LEGALCOMMENTARY ENDORSED OR SPONSORED BY THE ORIGINATOR.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Commentators, Subjects and Cases
- 14th Amendment
- Act To End Discrimination in Civil Marriage and Affirm Religious Freedom
- Adar v. Smith
- Adoption
- Affaire de AFER
- Alan Brownstein
- Alex Kozinsky
- Alliance Defense Fund
- Amador Valley Joint Union High Sch. Dist. v. State Bd. of Equalization
- Amy Margolin
- Andrew Koppelman
- Andrew Pugno
- Angelique Naylor
- Ann Ravel
- Anthony Romero
- Appling v. Doyle
- Arthur Leonard
- Asylum
- Austin R. Nimocks
- Baker v. Vermont
- Balde v. Alameda Unified School District
- Benson v. Alverson
- Beth Robinson
- Bishop et al v. State of Oklahoma et al
- Bobbie Wilson
- Bonilla v. Hurst
- Boseman v. Jarrell
- Brad Sears
- Brenda Cox
- Brian E. Gray
- Brian Raum
- Brian W. Raum
- Burns v. State of California
- California Assn. of Retail Tobacconists v. State of California
- California Civil Marriage Religious Freedom Act
- California Family Protection and Marriage Recognition Act
- California Marriage Equality Act Initiative
- California Marriage Recognition and Family Protection Act
- California State Bar
- Calvin Massey
- Camilla Taylor
- Campaign for California Families
- Campaign for California Families v. Newsom
- Carl Esbeck
- Carlos Ball
- Carlos Moreno
- Chad Griffin
- Chai Feldblum
- Chambers v. Ormiston
- Charles Cooper
- Charles S. Merrill v. IRS
- Christopher Krueger
- Civil Unions
- Cleveland Taxpayers for the Ohio Constitution v. City of Cleveland
- COBRA
- Cole v. Arkansas
- Collins v. Brewer
- Colorado Civil Union Benefits and Responsibilities Act
- Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. U.S. Dept. Health and Human Services
- Counsel
- Crawford v. Board of Education
- Custody
- D.C. Marriage Initiative of 2009
- D.C. Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009
- D.C. Stand for Marriage
- Dale Carpenter
- Dan Lungren
- Darren Spedale
- David Blankenhorn
- David Boies
- David Codell
- David Cruz
- David Llewellyn
- Dean v. District of Columbia
- Deb Kinney
- Deborah Wald
- Debra H. v. Janice R.
- Defense of Mariage Act
- Defense of Marriage Act
- Dennis Herrera
- Dennis Johnson
- Dennis Maio
- Designated Beneficiary Agreements
- Dissolution
- Divorce
- DOMA
- Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act of 2009
- Domestic Partnership Initiative
- Domestic Partnerships
- Doug Laycock
- Douglas Napier
- Douglas NeJaime
- Douglas W. Kmiec
- Dragovich v. U.S. Dept. Treasury
- e Photography LLC v. Vanessa Willock
- Edward Stein
- Elaine Photography LLC v. Vanessa Willock
- Elizabeth Gill
- Emily Doskow
- Equal Protection
- Erwin Chemerinsky
- Ethan Leib
- Eugene Volokh
- Eva Jefferson Paterson
- Evan Gerstmann
- Evan Wolfson
- Family Research Council
- First Amendment
- Florida Dept. of Families and Children v. In re: Matter of Adoption of X.X.G. and N.R.G.
- Frederick Hertz
- Full Faith and Credit
- Gartner v. Newton
- Geoffrey Stone
- George Deukmejian
- Gerald Uelmen
- Gerritsen v. City of Los Angeles
- Gill et al. v. Office of Personnel Management et al.
- Gill v. Adkins
- Glen Lavy
- Glen Smith
- Glenn Stanton
- Gloria Allred
- Godfrey v. Spano
- Golinski v. U.S. Office of Personnel Management
- Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health
- Goodwin Liu
- Greene v. County of Sonoma
- Gregory Johnson
- H.M. v. E.T.
- Harmon v. Davis
- Hernandez v. Robles
- Hi-Voltage Wires Works Inc. v. City of San Jose
- Hollingsworth v. Perry
- Hospital visitation
- Illinois Equal Marriage Act
- Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act
- Immigration
- In re Marriage Cases
- In re Marriage of Tara Ranzy and Larissa Chism
- In the Matter of Brad Levenson
- In the Matter of Karen Golinski
- In the Matter of the Marriage of J.B. and H.B.
- Inalienable Rights
- Iowa Marriage Amendment
- Ira Lupu
- Ireland Civil Partnership Bill 2009
- Irving Greines
- J.B. Van Hollen
- Jackson v. D.C. Elections Board II
- Jackson v. District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics
- James Bopp
- James Brosnahan
- James Hochberg
- Jane Schacter
- Jay Sekulow
- Jayne Dunnum v Dept of Employee Trust Funds
- Jean Love
- Jeff Amestoy
- Jeffrey S. Trachtman
- Jennifer Pizer
- Jerry Brown
- Jesse Choper
- Joanna Grossman
- John Berry
- John Eastman
- John G. Culhane
- John Oakley
- John Van de Kamp
- Jon Davidson
- Jon Eisenberg
- Jonathan Rauch
- Jordan Lorence
- Joseph G. Milizio
- Joseph Grodin
- Justice Joyce Kennard
- Justice Kathryn Werdegar
- Justice Ming Chin
- Karl Manheim
- Kate Kendell
- Katherine Darmer
- Katherine M. Franke
- Kathleen Sullivan
- Kenji Yoshino
- Kenneth Starr
- Kent Richla
- Kern v. Taney
- Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health
- Kevin Norte
- Kevin Snider
- Ladle v. Islington
- Laurence Tribe
- Lawrence v. Texas
- Legal Parent
- Legislature v. Eu
- Leiland Traiman
- Lester Pines
- LetNHVote.com
- Lewis v. Harris II
- Lewis v. New York State Department of Civil Service
- Liberty Counsel
- Lisa Miller-Jenkins v. Janet Miller-Jenkins
- Liu
- Livermore v. Waite
- Liz Seaton
- Love Honor Cherish Initiative
- LUV Campaign
- LUV Iowa
- Lynn Wardle
- M. Katherine B. Darmer
- Maggie Gallagher
- Maine Question 1
- Maine Act To End Discrimination in Civil Marriage and Affirm Religious Freedom
- Maine Question 1
- Malcom Lucas
- Manhattan Declaration
- Marriage Alternative
- Marriage Equality Legislation
- Marriage Equality Repeal
- Marriage Protection Amendment
- Martha Nussbaum
- Martin Gill case
- Martinez v. Kulongoski
- Mary Bonauto
- Mary McAlister
- Maryland Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act
- Massachusetts v. U.S. Dept. Health and Human Services
- Mathew Staver
- McConkey v. Van Hollen
- McD v L
- Michael Dorf
- Michael Perry
- Minnesota Marriage and Family Protection Act
- Mullens v. Hobbs
- Nan Hunter
- Nancy Polikoff
- Nelson Lund
- Nevada Domestic Partnership Act
- New Hampshire Equal Access to Marriage Legislation
- New Jersey Freedom of Religion and Equality in Civil Marriage Act
- New York Marriage Equality Act
- O'Darling v. O'Darling
- O’Darling v. O’Darling
- Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Assoc. v. Vespa-Papeleo
- One Iowa
- Oral Arguments
- Out-of-State Marriage Recognition
- Pacific Justice Institute
- Pam Karlan
- Parenting
- Parker v. Hurley
- Patricia Cain
- Paul Brest
- Pennsylvania Marriage Equality Legislation
- People v. Frierson
- Perez v. Sharp
- Perry et al v. Schwarzenegger et al
- Peter Obstler
- Peter Scheer
- Peter Teachout
- Political Reform Act of 1974
- Popular Constitutionalism
- Popular Democracy v Representative Democracy
- Portability
- Prendergast v. Snyder
- Rational Scrutiny
- Raven v. Deukmejian
- Referendum
- Reitman v. Mulkey
- Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act
- Religious Liberty Exemption
- Respect for Marriage Act
- Restore Equality 2010
- Retroactive v. Not Retroactive
- Revision v. Amendment
- Rhode Island Marriage Equality Bill
- Rick Garnett
- Robert George
- Robert Nagel
- Robin Fretwell Wilson
- Robin West
- Romer v. Evans
- Sam Marcosson
- Schalk and Kopf v. Austria
- Separation of Powers
- Shannon Minter
- Shelley Ross Saxer
- Shineovich v. Kemp
- Smelt v. United States of America
- State v. Carswell
- Stephen Bainbridge
- Stephen Barnett
- Stephen Page
- Stephen Reinhardt
- Steve Mayer
- Strauss v. Horton
- Strict Scrutiny
- Super DOMA Amendment
- Susan Sommer
- The Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act of 2009
- Theodore Boutrous Jr.
- Theodore Olson
- Therese Stewart
- tobias Wolff
- Tom Berg
- U.C. Berkeley Law Professor Jesse Choper Choper
- U.S. v. Carolene Products Co.
- Uniting American Families Act of 2009
- Varnum v. Brien
- Vermont Act to Protect Religious Freedom and Promote Equality in Civil Marriage
- Vikram Amar
- Vivian Polak
- Washington Referendum 71
- William Araiza
- William Eskridge
- WVForMarriage.com
No comments:
Post a Comment