consensual, and, quote, to declare the issue as one related to the right to engage in certain sexual conduct demeans the claim the individual put forward. so could it happen? could it happen next year? that the supreme court declare it is unconstitutional to deny people of the same sex the right to marry? one a question, what a story. joining me now is the president of the human rights campaign chad griffin and gay rights advocate elizabeth birch. i think i know what the majority opinion should look like. your thoughts. i couldn t have said it better, chris. it really is an incredible day today, that the supreme court is taking the prop 8 case, the perry case, as well as the doma case. and, you know, look, when this case was filed almost four years ago, the prop 8 case, we made the case in court that in this country we don t deny our citizens a fundamental right, and the supreme court has called marriage a fundamental right no less than 14 times in the history of this country, and i
less than 14 times in the history of this country, and i m optimistic that once the court does hear this case and the doma case, they re going to come down on the side of freedom, liberty, and equality just as they have so many times in our nation s past. and equal protection of the laws. elizabeth, thank you for coming on. equal protection of the laws. liberty is a pretty profound notion in this country. it is. pursuit of happiness is our declaration. why not? here is the thing, if you are gay and alive in our time in america, we re living in a kind of a policy and civil rights renaissance. we have seen extraordinary leadership from other parts of government already. don t we judge, chris, presidents by whether they stand up to the moment of history in which they live? we have seen president obama step up to this issue, gay marriage getting rid of don t ask,
unconstitutional law and they weren t going to defend it. so the judge in our case, chief judge von walker, who wrote that historic ruling in this case, allowed the intervening defendants, the propose pon ents of prop 8, to intervene and to defend the case. on the doma case the small group of folks on capitol hill out of the house have come together and are defending it because the federal government won t. at the end of the day this is unconstitutional and everyone knows it. it s a day in history here. this could be a major moment in the court s history. look at what tom goldstein of scotus blogged last week. quote, i have never before seen cases i believe would be discussed 200 years from now. bush v. gore, obama care were relative pip skeks. the government s assertion of the power to prohibit a gofg couple to marry or to refuse to recognize such a marriage is profound. so the opposite claim that five justices can read the federal constitution to strip the people of the power to en
at the end of the day this is unconstitutional, and everyone knows it. it s a day in history here. this could be a major moment in the court s history. look at what tom goldstein of scotus blogged last week. quote, i have never before seen cases i believe would be discussed 200 years from now. bush v. gore, obama care were relative pipsqueaks. the government s assertion of the power to prohibit a loving couple to marry or to refuse to recognize such a marriage is profound. so the opposite claim that five justices can read the federal constitution to strip the people of the power to enact the laws governing such a fundamental social institution. you know, elizabeth, it s not like we re talking about rock of ages, the big surprise. we have nine states that have done it. in this past election, which i think is pivotal, four states did it completely by popular vote. no court ruling on rights, just public will. for the first time in 40 years in four states thanks to the efforts of chad
optimistic that once the court does hear this case and the doma case, they re going to come down on the side of freedom, liberty, and equality just as they have so many times in our nation s past. and equal protection of the laws. elizabeth, thank you for coming on. equal protection of the laws. lib cert a pretty profound notion in this country. it is 37. pursuit of happiness is our declaration. why not? here is the thing, if you are gay and alive in our time in america, we re living in a kind of a policy and civil rights renaissance. we have seen extraordinary leadership from other parts of government already. don t we judge, chris, presidents by whether they stand up to the moment of history in which they live? we have seen president obama step up to this issue, gay marriage sgroo getting rid of don t ask, don t tell. now saying he won t endorse doma. and our military has stepped up. even the marines are doing a great job. even the marines are.