Arch conservative Ted Olson and his strange bedfellow ally, liberal David Boies, are representing the plaintiffs - and doing the Lord's work. They submitted their answers to Judge Walker and took it upon themselves to respond to all of the questions, theirs and those put to the defense. The link to a .pdf is below. Maybe it's only interesting reading to Court watchers and armchair legal nerds like myself, but reading the document brought me to tears. It is a thing of rare Constitutional beauty. Whereas the defense claims are all based on emotion and shoddy post hoc justifications for discrimination, Olson and Boies present hard, crystal clear legal facts. Anyone who claims to value the Constitution - or individual liberties - should read their brilliant argument and cherish it.
I have no doubt that Prop 8 will be overturned at the district level, and the ruling will likely be upheld at the 9th Circuit level. There is still doubt, however, as to how the Supreme Court will rule (although it will almost certainly be 5-4 one way or the other). It's a shame that the conservative wing of the Court is composed of such extreme judicial activists, because the arguments on display here are rock solid, and the established case law is clear. It would take an outrageous act of absolute judicial will to keep Prop 8 in tact, but this Court has shown itself absolutely capable of such activism (see Bush v. Gore). There's no question that the conservative cabal is more than happy to ignore the law when it wishes to achieve a specific political end. That being said, I am cautiously optimistic that Anthony Kennedy, whose ruling in several key cases on point favor the plaintiffs, will be the deciding vote in finally ending the disgraceful discrimination against gay and lesbian citizens, who are clearly being denied the equal protection of the law.
To be sure, both sides are passionate and emotional about this issue. But just looking at the law, only one side has a valid, air-tight, no nonsense Constitutional argument.
I have no doubt that Prop 8 will be overturned at the district level, and the ruling will likely be upheld at the 9th Circuit level. There is still doubt, however, as to how the Supreme Court will rule (although it will almost certainly be 5-4 one way or the other). It's a shame that the conservative wing of the Court is composed of such extreme judicial activists, because the arguments on display here are rock solid, and the established case law is clear. It would take an outrageous act of absolute judicial will to keep Prop 8 in tact, but this Court has shown itself absolutely capable of such activism (see Bush v. Gore). There's no question that the conservative cabal is more than happy to ignore the law when it wishes to achieve a specific political end. That being said, I am cautiously optimistic that Anthony Kennedy, whose ruling in several key cases on point favor the plaintiffs, will be the deciding vote in finally ending the disgraceful discrimination against gay and lesbian citizens, who are clearly being denied the equal protection of the law.
To be sure, both sides are passionate and emotional about this issue. But just looking at the law, only one side has a valid, air-tight, no nonsense Constitutional argument.
