Yesterday, Prop 8 was being dissected in the highest court in the land. Today it’s the Fed’s turn to be in the spotlight with DOMA. Both need to go.
I think the best exchange from yesterday occurred between Justice Hagan and Charles Cooper, the lawyer defending Prop 8. Here’s the abbreviated transcript from Liz Halloran’s NPR story.
Justice Elena Kagan: ” … Suppose a state said that, ‘Because we think that the focus of marriage really should be on procreation, we are not going to give marriage licenses anymore to any couple where both people are over the age of 55.’ Would that be constitutional? … If you are over the age of 55, you don’t help us serve the government’s interest in regulating procreation through marriage. So why is that different?”
Charles Cooper, lawyer defending Proposition 8:“Your Honor, even with respect to couples over the age of 55, it is very rare that both couples — both parties to the couple are infertile, and the traditional —
(Laughter.)
Justice Elena Kagan: “No, really, because if the couple — I can just assure you, if both the woman and the man are over the age of 55, there are not a lot of children coming out of that marriage.”
No matter what the Supremes decide, marriage equality is finally getting the airtime, the attention, and the support that it deserves. I only hope that it’s enough to convince my fellow countrymen that throwing out these discriminatory laws is necessary to showing we as Americans truly value liberty and justice for all.
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