Lawyers Olson and Boies want Virginia as same-sex marriage test case

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Lawyers Olson and Boies want Virginia as same-sex marriage test case
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/lawyers-olson-and-boies-want-virginia-as-same-sex-marriage-test-case/2013/09/29/5309af60-282c-11e3-9256-41f018d21b49_story.html

By Robert Barnes, Published: September 29 | Updated: Monday, September 30, 12:01 AM

The legal team that overturned California’s ban on same-sex marriage is targeting Virginia to launch another challenge aimed at convincing the Supreme Court that gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry no matter where they live.

The American Foundation for Equal Rights — with its attention-getting political odd couple of conservative Republican lawyer Theodore Olson and liberal Democrat David Boies — will announce Monday it is joining a lawsuit against what the lawyers called Virginia’s “draconian” laws prohibiting same-sex marriages, the recognition of such marriages performed where they are legal, and civil unions.
....

Although Virginia’s constitutional amendment was easily approved, recent polling shows a majority of residents favor legalizing same-sex marriage. But Republicans who control the state’s political leadership and legislature are opposed, and removing the constitutional amendment would be difficult.

The constitution can be amended by voters only after a constitutional convention or if a proposed amendment is passed twice by the General Assembly, with an election occurring between the two votes.

The constitutional amendment to which the article refers is this one: the Marshall-Newman Amendment.

The "Marshall" in the name is Bob Marshall.

Legal team targets Virginia as test case on same-sex marriage
http://www.timesdispatch.com/legal-team-targets-virginia-as-test-case-on-same-sex/article_7926ea2d-b772-5537-9047-90849f63a6f5.html

The RTD article is taken off the wire from the Washington Post. The comments will be different.

[longship]

1. Very interesting. The opponents in Bush v Gore work together for LBGT rights.

Olson's example is particularly interesting. His wife, Barbara, died on the plane that hit the Pentagon on 9/11. She was a particularly horribly mealy-mouthed Republican pundit who was all over the news media that year. Whether her death had anything to do with Olson's apparent move to rationality only he can say.

But I am most pleased by his position on this issue. Given his (and his wife's) rhetoric during the 2000 election debacle, it is quite refreshing.