Gay marriage before the Supreme Court?
That is inevitable, and this case challenging Proposition 8 may be the vehicle to drive the question of what constitutes marriage to the High Court.
“Scholars, gay and lesbian partners and opponents of same-sex marriage are expected to testify about the nature of marriage and homosexuality during an unprecedented federal trial Monday to determine whether gays and lesbians may marry.
“The case, Perry vs. Schwarzenegger, is expected to become a landmark that eventually will be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. Both sides have hired leading legal advocates with lots of experience before the high court.”
This is just how both sides in pivotal social/moral clashes prepare for an eventual showdown before the Supremes. Look at the heavyweights lined up for this precedent-setting challenge to traditional marriage. And he dramatic staging.
“Actually putting witnesses on the stand has never been done before in any lawsuit claiming a right to same-sex marriage,” said Proposition 8 campaign attorney Andy Pugno. “So this is a very out-of-the-ordinary approach.”
“David Boies, a lawyer for the challengers of the ballot measure, said he expected the case would reach the Supreme Court in the fall of 2011.
“This is the first time that you will have this kind of record being made” on the social, religious and legal implications of same-sex marriage, said Boies, who represented former Vice President Al Gore in Bush vs. Gore, the Supreme Court case that gave George W. Bush the presidency.
“Theodore B. Olson, a conservative attorney who represented Bush in that case, is working with Boies to overturn Proposition 8. They were hired by a nonprofit created by a political strategist and entertainment-industry activists to bring the lawsuit.”
And on the side defending Proposition 8 (the legitimate expression of voter sentiment in a ballot initiative), mounting a defense of the institutional of marriage in society and civilization?
…….
They’re not mentioned. Only this:
“But Proposition 8’s sponsors, contending the broadcast might intimidate witnesses and incite retaliation, appealed his decision all the wayto the U.S. Supreme Court. A decision by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy is pending.”
Fortunately, citizens who want to be informed and engaged in these moral/cultural debates don’t have to rely on bad reporting by what is sometimes still referred to as ‘mainstream media’. In fact, bad reporting only motivates the electorate to look through the proliferation of good sources to find the truth.