Thursday, August 12, 2004

 

Cal Supremes To Married Gays: Re-Cork The Champagne

As expected, the California Supreme Court today ruled (unanimously) that SF Mayor Gavin Newsom exceeded his authority under the law to issue marriage licenses to gays and lesbians last year. What was not so expected (particularly after they declined to let any of those 4,000+ same-sex spouses intervene in the case, to argue the constitutionality of their own marriages) was the Court's ruling, 5-2, that those same-sex marriages were a legal nullity, and void from the outset.

Having slogged through their 114-page set of opinions (mostly superfluous blather about "a government of laws, not of men"), I must say I'm not optimistic that there will be a majority of four votes there (next year, it's estimated) to validate same-sex marriages in California. The knee-jerk test seems to be this: If, the day before the U.S. Supreme Court decided the case of Loving v. Virginia in 1967, a interracial couple had a wedding ceremony before a preacher, would it be valid under the Constitution? Or null and void? The Cal Supremes seem to say the latter, by a vote of 5 to 2.

posted by Michael 2:15 PM