Abstract
I am honored to follow the many eminent scholars who have delivered the Leary Lecture. Like many prior lectures, mine focuses on a contemporary civilrights struggle. I wish to discuss the issue of same-sex marriage, and more specifically the case of Hollingsworth v. Perry, a federal challenge to a state restriction on marriage on appeal to the United States Supreme Court. Perry’s development has served at least one function of our multi-tiered judicial system, which is to generate several options for the Court. I first review five possibilities, which range from a holding that same-sex marriage is constitutionally required in no states to a holding that same-sex marriage is constitutionally required in all fifty. I then turn to the question of how far I believe the Court should go along this continuum. In particular, I consider how the often-invoked question of the political power of gays and lesbians should affect that determination.
Recommended Citation
Yoshino, Kenji
(2012)
"The Paradox of Political Power: Same-Sex Marriage and the Supreme Court,"
Utah Law Review: Vol. 2012:
No.
2, Article 1.
Available at:
https://dc.law.utah.edu/ulr/vol2012/iss2/1