Dahlia Lithwick says Judge Vaughn Walker’s ruling today in the Proposition 8 case was a triumph of “science, methodology, and hard work.” Personally, I would have preferred an opinion that was based a little less on a mountain of science and methodology and a little more on a mountain of compelling legal doctrine, since that’s what’s going to matter when this case gets to the Supreme Court. Still, Lithwick does point out something else interesting about Walker’s decision: he relies a lot on arguments that seem designed to appeal to Justice Anthony Kennedy:
I count — in his opinion today — seven citations to Justice Kennedy’s 1996 opinion in Romer v. Evans (striking down an anti-gay Colorado ballot initiative) and eight citations to his 2003 decision in Lawrence v. Texas (striking down Texas’ gay-sodomy law). In a stunning decision this afternoon, finding California’s Proposition 8 ballot initiative banning gay marriage unconstitutional, Walker trod heavily on the path Kennedy has blazed on gay rights: “[I]t would demean a married couple were it to be said marriage is simply about the right to have sexual intercourse,” quotes Walker. “‘[M]oral disapproval, without any other asserted state interest,’ has never been a rational basis for legislation,” cites Walker. “Animus towards gays and lesbians or simply a belief that a relationship between a man and a woman is inherently better than a relationship between two men or two women, this belief is not a proper basis on which to legislate,” Walker notes, with a jerk of the thumb at Kennedy.
Kennedy, of course, might possibly be the swing justice when this case gets to the Supreme Court, so this could be a pretty effective tactic. Maybe that mountain of facts has an audience after all.
