The Defense of Marriage Act is likely headed to the Supreme Court and famed attorney David Boies thinks marriage equality opponents are running out of legal arguments.
While discussing the federal appeals court ruling Thursday that the core part of DOMA is unconstitutional, Boies— who was one of the lead attorneys in the successful challenge to California’s Proposition 8— says he has a hard time coming up with any argument for pro-DOMA lawyers.
Boies, on The Last Word: One of the problems about this issue is that I just can’t figure out what the argument is on the other side...They can’t argue federalism. For heaven’s sake, what they’re trying to do is override a state’s decision to override marriage equality. They can’t argue that they don’t like the lifestyle, because the Supreme Court has already held that that’s off-limits. They can’t argue that they ought to be able to discriminate against citizens, the Equal Protection Clause says you can’t do that.It is very, very had to think about what legal arguments they have left.
Author Zach Wahls, who was also a guest on the broadcast, pointed out that during the Prop 8 trial, attorney Ted Olsen asked the defending counsel to explain what damage same-sex marriage did to straight couples.
“All he could say was ‘I don’t know, I don’t know.’”