Boies: Prop 8 Ruling Will Lead to Gay Marriage in All 50 States

Last week’s Supreme Court decision overturning Proposition 8 in California will pave the way for same-sex marriage in the 37 states where it is illegal or not recognized, attorney David Boies said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Boies said the landmark 5-4 vote reinstates the lower court’s decision that bans of gay marriage violate the 14th Amendment — and not just in California.

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“If they [the Supreme Court] were going to allow the states to decide for themselves, they would have allowed California to decide for itself,” he said. “California decided. California passed Proposition 8. What the court was doing was it was invalidating California’s choice.”

The Supreme Court’s ruling last week striking down Proposition 8 should not give Boies and his organization the right to redefine the institution, the chairman of the National Organization for Marriage said Sunday.

“He [Boies] said there have been 12 states that have voted to change the definition of marriage,” John Eastman said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “Well, that’s not true. Half of them have, or less than half have. The others have had it imposed on them by the courts, and that’s what’s most deeply troubling here.”

Eastman said the court’s decision will lead to the erosion of an institution “designed around the unique procreative abilities of men and women.”

“We are manufacturing a right to redefine marriage and impose it no matter whether the state or the country wants to have that re-definition,” he said. “That’s judicial tyranny.”

As lead counsel for the American Foundation for Equal Rights — the sole sponsor of the Proposition 8 federal-court challenge — Boies said the organization now will begin to look at how to convince states to abide by the Constitution either legislatively, by initiative or by court action.

“It’s terribly important that we extend the promise of equality...to all Americans in all 50 states,” he said. “There isn’t any state that we’re giving up on. Our goal is to have marriage equality as guaranteed by the United States Constitution enforced in every single state in the union.”