Tomorrow is the closing arguments in the Prop 8 case in San Francisco. You recall that conservative attorney Ted Olsen, the former Solicitor General in the Bush Administration and David Boies of the Bush v Gore case before the Supreme Court are the attorney team in a lawsuit to overturn California’s Proposition 8 in the federal courts. Strange bedfellows for an attorney team but it speaks volumes as a symbol that the gay marriage fight ought to go beyond the traditional Democratic/Republican divide.
But it was a controversial move to file a case in federal court and angered many glbt legal thinkers and many lgbt leaders were opposed. If we lose in Federal court or win in Federal court there will be an appeal and ultimately it will go before the U.S. Supreme Court. The Roberts court is not the most friendly court to LGBT issues with its conservative majority. Oy just what we need a definitive ruling denying marriage for gay folks at the Supreme Court! At least that is the thinking privately of many LGBT leaders. The case was organized by Chad Griffin, political strategist and chair of his American Foundation for Equal Rights . Read more here from LA WEEKLY about Chad who worked on the No on Prop 8 campaign. And Chad worked in the immediate aftermath analyzing data from the campaign and presenting it to funders as well as activists.
Here is the link to the New York Times editorial on civil marriage.
Read a great article in the Washington Post here about Ted Olsen before tomorrow to understand more about who is arguing to overturn Prop. 8.