Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Today's the Day!

Long time, huh, folks?

Well, I apologize for not being more on top of the unfolding of the Prop. 8 case. Meanwhile, today is the day - closing arguments have been made, and I'm eagerly awaiting the verdict. You, too, can follow along with the live-blogging at Prop8Case.com.

As of now, Judge Walker declared marriage as "a deeply rooted fundamental right. And a right that extends to all persons, whether they are capable of producing children, whether they are incarcerated, whether they are behind in their child support. There really is no limitation except a gender limitation."

Hmmm... that's not looking good. In the final exchange between Walker and Prop. 8 defending lawyer Charles Cooper, Walker intimated that sexual orientation is a suspect classification - also not good.

I've only been catching snippets of coverage during the work day - hopefully there'll be more to report shortly. It's so ridiculous, with the anti-8 side giving only emotional arguments, totally lacking in anything based on law. A judge's role is to rule on law, not to declare it or to decide based on his or her opinions. Too bad not many people get that!!!

In the meantime, please keep Cooper and the Prop. 8 team in your prayers!!!

2 comments:

Rob said...

I'm a lawyer of some years' experience. I read Mr. Cooper's filing with the court in response to the court's questions. Not a blogger's summary, I read Mr. Cooper's own words.

As a lawyer, I must tell you that those arguments were circular and superficial. They never went to the heart of what the court wanted him to answer, which was how same-sex marriage harmed the institution of marriage. Mr. Cooper came close to that analysis only briefly in many, many pages, and then he had only vague generalities. This is the same attorney who, when questioned in open court on this same point, said "I don't know, I don't know."

By contrast, Mr. Olsen's arguments struck me as rigorous and compelling. If they seemed "emotional" it was not because they lacked a firm legal basis (because they very definitely DID have solid legal grounds and stated them well), it was because Mr. Olsen and Mr. Boies both recognize the deep injustice which Proposition 8 inflicts and are passionate about reversing it.

Unknown said...

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