QotD

[kate_nepveu]

From page 8 of this decision (PDF):

The fact that this is a case . . . being prosecuted by members of a minority group does not mean that members of the minority group have a greater interest in equal protection and due process than the rest of society. In our society, a variety of citizens of different backgrounds coexist because we have constitutionally bound ourselves to protect the fundamental rights of one another from being violated by unlawful treatment. Thus, we all have an equal stake in a case that challenges the constitutionality of a restriction on a fundamental right.

SCOTUSblog has context and a summary.

Comments

[mmcirvin]

Maybe this is an unfair question, but what do you think the chances are that the decision to overturn Prop. 8 will actually be upheld? Purely intuitively, it seems unlikely that the Supreme Court would find a state constitutional amendment to be a discriminatory denial of a basic right when the right involved isn't itself recognized under federal law.

[kate_nepveu]

I really don't know. Just for starters, I get the impression that the question of whether anyone actually can bring an appeal is itself not easy. And I could personally write a convincing decision overturning Prop 8 under _Romer v Evans_ (the Colorado Amendment 2 case) and _Lawrence v Texas_ (the criminal sodomy case), and also write a perfectly convincing decision that distinguishes those two cases. Going on to say that the rational bases rejected by the trial court are in fact rational, well, I couldn't do it, but it is, shall we say, entirely within the realm of judicial possibility.