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In May 2008, the California Supreme Court overturned the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, making gay marriage legal in that state, at least for now. Joining Massachusetts, the only other state to recognize same-gender marriages, the narrowly divided California court ruled 43 to recognize same-sex marriage, citing four reasons:
(1) "the opportunity of an individual to establish with the person with whom the individual has chosen to share his or her life an officially recognized and protected family possessing mutual rights and responsibilities and entitled to the same respect and dignity accorded a union traditionally designated as marriage"
(2) "the right of an individual to enter into a consensual relationship with another person"
(3) "the means available to an individual to establish, with a loved one of his or her choice, an officially recognized family relationship"
(4) "the right to marry represents the right of an individual to establish a legally recognized family with the person of one's choice."
A Ban on Same-Sex Marriage Is “Discriminatory”
The Court’s Chief Justice Ron George ruled that the California ban on same-sex “marriage” was “discriminatory” and that “domestic partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage.”
The decision to overturn California’s ban on same-sex nuptials met with rejoicing from many parties, and criticism from others. Conservatives vowed to get a proposition on the November 2008 ballot for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
California’s Court: The Most Influential in the Country
The conservatives also fear the fact that the California Supreme Court’s decisions are often followed by other states. Indeed, a December 2007 study by the University of California-Davis Law Review showed that the California Supreme Court is the most influential court in the United States, with 1,260 of their decisions followed or copied by other states (the highest such figure of any state Supreme Court).
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