Recent news and commentary

Lewis v. Harris II

Evan Wolfson is executive director of Freedom To Marry, and Hayley Gorenberg is deputy legal director of Lambda Legal. At Huffington Post, they examine why plaintiff couples in New Jersey have renewed their state Supreme Court case to gain marriage equality.

Perry v. Schwarzenneger

Gloria Borger, a CNN Senior Political Analyst, interviewed Theodore Olson and David Boies, attorneys for the plaintiffs. ("The Odd Couple," 03/25/10 Campbell Brown Blog) Law professor Orin Kerr complains about the perceived absence of comparable profiles of Charles Cooper, attorney for the Prop. 8 proponents. (Volokh Conspiracy) I link to a Cooper profile here.

Marriage equality v. "marriage protection" - a debate in Pennsylvania

Daylin Leach is a Pennsylvania state Senator whose district lies near Philadelphia. He has distinguished himself as a marriage equality advocate by introducing legislation (SB 935) to repeal the state's DOMA and recognize same-sex marriages. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) In June, he debated state Senator John Eichelberger, who recently failed to advance his "marriage protection" amendment (SB 707) out of committee. Leach introduced the motion to table it, and the motion was approved. (Proposition 8 and the Right to Marry)

Last night in Harrisburg, he debated Maggie Gallagher, executive director of the National Organization for Marriage. (Freedom to Marry) Pennsylvania Public Radio reporter Scott Detrow moderated the debate, and features sound clips here. He expects PCN to carry a video "at some point." (03/26/10 update: You can watch the debate here.)

Marriage equality - D.C.

Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT) tried to amend the reconciliation bill on medical insurance, with provision for a referendum on D.C.'s marriage-equality law, but his last-minute maneuver ended in predictable defeat. (Law Dork / Washington Post / AMERICAblog Gay / HRC Back Story) Freedom To Marry finds that the defeat makes marriage equality "safe." That reassurance warrants qualification. Bennett's gambit represented no credible threat, even if he scored political points among partisan supporters in advance of his 2010 primary. More importantly, a pending lawsuit on a marriage initiative will likely reach the Supreme Court, and may yet succeed there. (Proposition 8 and The Right To Marry)

Divorce

Matt Lloyd is a family law practitioner in Austin. At the Texas Family Law Blog, he describes the difficulties of same-sex couples who seek divorces in states that ban same-sex marriage. He discusses two divorce cases in his state, observing that "we may be approaching an interesting family law jurisprudence in Texas."