Dear Commons Community,

On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear two cases challenging gay marriage.  The two cases resulted from legislation passed in California and New York.  The case in California is particularly interesting because the two attorneys defending gay marriage will be Ted Olsen and David Boies, who were pitted against each other in 2000 during the contested presidential election.  The New York Times reported yesterday:

“The California case, Hollingsworth v. Perry, No. 12-144, was filed in 2009 by Theodore B. Olson and David Boies, two lawyers who were on opposite sides in the Supreme Court’s decision in Bush v. Gore, which settled the 2000 presidential election. The suit argued that California voters had violated the federal Constitution the previous year when they overrode a decision of the state’s Supreme Court allowing same-sex marriages.

A federal judge in San Francisco agreed, issuing a broad decision that said the Constitution required the state to allow same-sex couples to marry. The decision has been stayed.

A divided three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, also in San Francisco, affirmed the decision. “

Ted Olsen is a well-known Washington Republican insider.  The fact that he will be defending gay marriage is incredible and will have many social conservatives accusing him of being a traitor to their cause.  This will add much drama to what will surely be carefully followed deliberations.

Tony