Gay law news
Maryland court upholds gay marriage banXdiv codec downloaden
By a 4-3 vote, Maryland’s highest court yesterday upheld the state’s ban on sex-same marriage.Xdiv codec downloaden
• The court said the ban is not a form of sex discrimination, because Maryland’s Equal Rights Amendment prohibits only discrimination between men and women as classes. Xdiv codec downloaden
• Gays and lesbians are not a suspect or quasi-suspect class, the court said; therefore, a legislative classification based on sexual orientation is not subject to strict or even heightened judicial review. It is subject only to rational basis review, which, as the court explained, means “minimal scrutiny in theory and virtually none in fact.”Xdiv codec downloaden
• The right to same-sex marriage is not so deeply rooted in the history and traditions of either Maryland or the Nation as to be deemed fundamental, the court said.Xdiv codec downloaden
From the Washington Post:Xdiv codec downloaden
The 4 to 3 decision cannot be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court because the lawsuit relied solely on state law. But the judges appeared to invite gay rights advocates to pursue their goals through the political system: “Our opinion should by no means be read to imply that the General Assembly may not grant and recognize for homosexual persons civil unions or the right to marry a person of the same sex,” Judge Glenn T. Harrell Jr. wrote for the majority.
Chief Judge Robert M. Bell issued a sharp dissent, accusing the majority of failing to recognize gay people as a “suspect class,” a group that warrants special protection from discrimination. Bell dismissed the majority view that gays are politically empowered and should not be viewed as such a class.
The court’s opinion, in pdf, is here.Xdiv codec downloaden
Second Circuit upholds funding denial for violation of Solomon AmendmentXdiv codec downloaden
If Yale Law School wants to bar military recruiters from campus to protest “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” it will have to forfeit $350 million annually in Government aid, a federal appeals court ruled Monday:Xdiv codec downloaden
The Solomon Amendment has won another round in court, and the only remaining push against it may have suffered a fatal blow this week when a federal appeals court upheld the constitutionality of the controversial measure.
Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the Solomon Amendment did not infringe on the First Amendment rights of law schools that objected to it. The law threatens to withhold federal funds from institutions that limit military recruiters’ access to campuses, which many law schools historically have done to protest the Defense Department’s discriminatory policies toward gay people.
While Supreme Court rulings on specific laws generally settle matters, a group of Yale University faculty members had a separate challenge to the Solomon Amendment and they won in federal district court, where they focused on the First Amendment protections for academic freedom. The Pentagon appealed that ruling, but the case was on hold during the Supreme Court review. Some critics of the Solomon amendment hoped they had an argument that might work, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit disagreed.
The appeals court ruled that the Supreme Court’s decision last year “almost certainly” rejected the academic freedom argument put forth by the professors. And if it didn’t, the appeals court found that the argument “lacks merit.”
The court’s opinion, in pdf, is here.Xdiv codec downloaden
ADDED —Xdiv codec downloaden
Well, that was fast. Yale has chosen. Remember, the options were 1) principle or 2) cash. Don’t let the suspense kill you.Xdiv codec downloaden