Eyes on Iowa gay marriage case

11/21/08 Iowa Press-Citizen: "Six same-sex Iowa couples, including a family from Iowa City, are listed as a plaintiff in Varnum v. Brien. If the court finds in favor of the plaintiffs, same-sex marriage will be legal in Iowa. Oral arguments in the case will be heard Dec. 9 ... Des Moines lawyer Dennis Johnson is serving as co-counsel for the Iowa case with Lambda Legal."


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Comments by Shannon Minter on Justice Kennard's vote to deny review

11/25/08 Washington Blade: The Washington Blade reports on statements by Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, during a 11/21/08 conference call. In In re Marriage Cases, Minter successfully argued before the California Supreme Court that same sex couples have the fundamental right to marry.

"Minter said [Justice] Kennard has made it clear in other decisions that she 'really does not like the court to have to decide very important issues on a shortened time frame.'

" 'There’s a very good chance that that was her concern and she would have liked us to file [our petitions] at a lower court,' he said. 'You really cannot draw any conclusion whatsoever about where she’s leaning based on that vote.' "

Minter believes that Prop. 8 presents the California Supreme Court with a "constitutional crisis," because if the Court upholds Prop. 8, that "would be the first time that an initiative has successfully been used to take a right away just from one single group of people."


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.

Legal experts puzzled over California justice's seeming reversal on Prop. 8

11/25/08 LA Times: Reporter Maura Dolan states that "a close reading of the court's one-page order suggests that gay-rights advocates may have lost [in California Supreme Court Justice Joyce Joyce Kennard] a usually predictable ally in their effort to overturn Proposition 8." UCLA law professor Brad Sears said that "[i]t definitely isn't a good sign" that Justice Kennard vote against review of Prop. 8 with respect to post-election marriages. UC Berkeley law professor Jesse Choper believes that she appears to think that Prop. 8 "isn't worth reviewing." Santa Clara University law professor Gerald Uelmen notes that the Chief Justice Ronald George and Justice Kennard will have a decisive role in the Court's ruling. He speculates that Justice Kennard may have concluded that a majority is unlikely to rule in a way she would otherwise favor. UC Irvine Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinksy said that "[s]he is a justice who will do what she thinks is right as to the law without any regard to what the political consequences are."

August 2008 Nolo Press Interviews With Attorney Fredrick Hertz

August 2008: Rich Stim of Nolo Press interviewed attorney Frederick Hertz on the status and history of same-sex marriage in California on 08/06/2008 and 08/31/2008.

Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center Virtual Town Hall Meeting on 11/25/08: Prop. 8: The Facts and Future

11/25/08: "The 90-minute online forum will be hosted by Karen Ocamb, news editor at Frontiers and IN Los Angeles. It will be broadcast live via streaming audio ... A recording of the town hall meeting will be available here within 24 hours." The LA Times has a brief summary here. The Palm Springs Desert Sun reports these comments by Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights:

“I'm worried about that myself,” Minter said. “People that do not like our community can come back at us and take other rights as well. They certainly have not been shy about doing that in other states.

“I'm confident at the end of the day that we will have equality. But we're going to have to fight for it and fit for it very hard.”

Anti-Prop 8 Counsel David Codell Visits Drexel Law

11/24/08 press release by Drexell University Earl Mack School of Law: David C. Codell, lead counsel for petitioners in Strauss v. Horton, "talked with Drexel Law students on Nov. 21 about efforts to repeal the recently enacted prohibition."

“Proposition 8 is the first time in California history that the initiative process has been
allowed to undermine equal protection,” Codell said.

Minorities fear trend from California gay marriage ban

11/24/08 Reuters: This article quotes University of Southern California law Professor David Cruz and Stanford University law professor Jane Schacter, who notes that California has throughout its history a "track record" of minority discrimination.