Same Sex Marriage and Law
What are, or should be, the constitutional rights of same sex couples in the United States? The United States Supreme Court has struck down laws criminally punishing homosexual acts and it has held marriage to be a fundamental right, but it has not struck down traditional marriage laws. After a decade in which state courts have grappled with the subject under state constitutional law, celebrity lawyers Ted Olsen and David Boies have persuaded plaintiffs in California to make a "federal case out of it.” We will study same sex marriage from the perspectives of philosophy and law.