Jeffrey Lalloway at the California Divorce & Family Law Blog reports on news of today that is not just family law niche news, but is major national news: California's top court has overturned the gay marriage ban. The majority decision of the California Supreme Court, and all the concurring and dissenting opinions, can be found on the court's website here.
The 4-3 majority opinion by the California Supreme Court has resulted from a case with quite a different procedural and substantive history than that of our own historic Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision declaring a right to same-sex marriage here nearly five years ago. For more on the history and the story leading up to the California decision released today, and for a link to video of the oral arguments before the court in this case, see my last post on this topic, Oral Arguments Heard in California Same-Sex Marriage Case.
But the California ruling will have much the same effect in California as the Massachusetts ruling had here: within a month, gay and lesbian couples all throughout California will be permitted to marry. Gay and lesbian Californians will no longer have to settle simply for domestic partnerships.
As a result, California now joins Massachusetts as the second state in the nation to recognize, based on its own state constitution, the full right of gay and lesbian couples to the institution of marriage. Now, we should have our eyes on Connecticut, where another important decision should be coming soon.
For information about Massachusetts divorce and family law, see the divorce and family law page of my law firm website.
1 comment:
Although I favor broadening the definition of marriage to include same sex couples, altering the text of a statute by judicial fiat is improper. This is properly the role of the legislature.
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