Posted by Orin Kerr:
Quick, Someone Call Tom DeLay:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2005_05_08-2005_05_14.shtml#1115937609
[1]Judge Joseph Batailion, a Clinton appointee to the U.S. District
Court for the District of Nebraska, has issued a [2]43-page opinion
striking down a [3]2000 amendment to the Nebraska Constitution
limiting marriage under Nebraska state law to opposite sex
relationships. As far as I know, this is the first judicial opinion
holding that bans on same-sex marriage violate the federal (not the
state) constitution.
As best I can tell from a very quick scan of the opinion, Judge
Bataillion's opinion holds that the the 2000 law violated a slew of
constitutional doctrines, including 1) "the right to associational
freedom protected by the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause of
the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution and the right to petition
the government for redress of grievances, which encompasses the right
to participate in the political process, 2) Equal Protection under
Romer v. Evans, and 3) the prohibition against Bills of Attainder.
I have enabled comments. As always, civil and respectful comments
only.
References
1.
file://localhost/var/www/powerblogs/volokh/posts/air.fjc.gov/servlet/tGetInfo?jid=2718
2. http://ads.omaha.com/media/maps/pdfs/0512initiative.pdf
3. http://statutes.unicam.state.ne.us/Corpus/chapC/CI-29.html
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