The future of gay marriage dominated the news this week as the Supreme Court heard cases challenging California’s Proposition 8 and the Clinton-era Defense of Marriage Act, which legally defined marriage as between one man and one woman.
A key player in the fight to repeal Proposition 8 is California Attorney General Kamala Harris. Harris’ opposition to the measure is well documented; she announced during her victory party after her 2010 election that she would not be defending the anti-same sex marriage measure. Harris’ decision to decline to defend the law is unusual, as ABC notes, it is usually the job of a state’s attorney general to defend state law.
In an interview with the Washington Blade on Tuesday, Harris said she was confident the measure would be declared unconstitutional.
“I think it went well,” she said after the justices heard oral arguments in the Proposition 8 case. “It was clear that this is a case that is about fundamental notions of justice and equality and liberty.”
Harris, who was born to an Indian mother and Jamaican father, also compared the fight against Proposition 8 to the landmark case Loving v. Virginia, which struck down bans against interracial marriage in the United States.
“It was one of those 14 cases that outlined the fact that marriage is a fundamental right,” she said. “It also outlined the fact that government should not interfere with the freedom to marry. And it articulated that the 14th Amendment means having an equal right to the sanctity of marriage.”
The Supreme Court is expected to announce its rulings on both cases in June.
