{"id":2747,"date":"2013-03-26T22:38:00","date_gmt":"2013-03-26T22:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/supreme-court-warned-of-harm-over-marriage-redefinition\/"},"modified":"2013-03-26T22:38:00","modified_gmt":"2013-03-26T22:38:00","slug":"supreme-court-warned-of-harm-over-marriage-redefinition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/03\/supreme-court-warned-of-harm-over-marriage-redefinition\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court warned of harm over marriage redefinition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Washington D.C., Mar 26, 2013 \/ 04:38 pm (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Redefining marriage to include same-sex couples could adversely affect families and society at large, the lawyer defending California's gay marriage ban told Supreme Court justices today.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIt is reasonable to be very concerned that redefining marriage as a genderless institution could well lead over time to harms to that institution and to the interests that society has always used that institution to address,\u201d argued Charles Cooper March 26.<\/p>\n

\tThe attorney made his remarks Tuesday during oral arguments for Hollingsworth v. Perry, one of two gay marriage cases being heard this term by the U.S. Supreme Court. This case challenges California\u2019s Proposition 8, a state measure recognizing marriage as existing solely between a man and a woman.<\/p>\n

\tThe other case, to be argued March 27, challenges the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Decisions in both cases are expected in late June.<\/p>\n

\tLawyers for both sides of the argument began by addressing questions of jurisdiction, and then moved onto the merits of the case.<\/p>\n

\tCooper affirmed that the \u201cessential thrust\u201d of the defense of Prop 8 is that gay and straight couples are not \u201csimilarly situated\u201d with respect to marriage because the government's \u201cprincipal interest in marriage is in regulating procreation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tCooper referred to the \u201cunknown consequences\u201d of gay marriage, and suggested they will be \u201cadverse.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tJustice Antonin Scalia added that there is \u201cconsiderable disagreement\u201d among sociologists about the effects of raising children by gay couples, and that \u201cthere's no scientific answer\u201d about it at present.<\/p>\n

\tHe made this point noting that if marriage is redefined so as to include same-sex couples, adoption by same-sex couples must be permitted as a consequence.<\/p>\n

\tCooper responded by saying that the proponents of Prop 8 must prove \u201cnot only that there clearly will be no harm, but that it's beyond debate that there will be no harm\u201d should gay marriage be allowed.<\/p>\n

\tJustice Stephen Breyer pointed out that there is more to marriage than procreation, and that couples who are straight yet sterile are afforded the right to marry.<\/p>\n

\tCooper responded that \u201credefining marriage as a genderless institution will sever its abiding connection to its historic traditional procreative purposes, and it will refocus the purpose of marriage and the definition of marriage away from the raising of children and to the emotional needs and desires of adults, of adult couples.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tHe said that marriage is designed to \u201cmake it less likely\u201d that marriage partners \u201cwill engage in irresponsible procreative conduct\u201d outside of marriage so that should the marriage produce children, they will be more likely to be raised by both parents.<\/p>\n

\tAttorney Ted Olson argued against Proposition 8, saying that it \u201cwalls-off\u201d and stigmatizes gays and lesbians \u201cbased on their status\u201d and labels \u201ctheir most cherished relationships as second-rate, different, unequal, and not okay.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tOlson proposed treating homosexual persons as a class whose equal protection right to marriage is being infringed upon.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThis Court again and again and again has said the right to get married, the right to have the relationship of marriage is a personal right. It's a part of the right of privacy, association, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tChief Justice John Roberts, however, expressed discomfort with saying that Prop 8 excludes \u201ca particular group,\u201d because marriage as a heterosexual institution developed \u2013 not out of malice to homosexuals as a group \u2013 but \u201cto serve purposes that, by their nature, didn't include homosexual couples.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tOlson replied that in adopting Proposition 8, California chose to \u201cexclude gays and lesbians,\u201d but Roberts countered that the California Supreme Court's decision striking down Prop 8 was a novel change to an institution \u201cthat's been around since time immemorial.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tScalia then chimed in, asking Olson at what point in time he argues that it became unconstitutional to exclude same-sex couples from marriage. Olson suggested that it became unconstitutional \u201cwhen we as a culture determined that sexual orientation is a characteristic of individuals that they cannot control.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tWhen Scalia asked for a particular time this happened, Olson said it has been \u201can evolutionary cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWell, how am I supposed to know how to decide a case, then if you can't give me a date when the Constitution changes,\u201d Scalia asked.<\/p>\n

\tThe court also heard arguments from the U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, who claimed that Prop 8 violates equal protection.<\/p>\n

\tThe measure, he said, denies the children of gay couples the \u201cstabilizing effect\u201d of marriage and that such children are harmed because, without their parents being married, they \u201cdon't have parents like everybody else's parents.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tIn his rebuttal, Cooper said the case is ultimately about \u201cwhether or not it can be said that for every legitimate purpose of marriage, are opposite-sex couples and same-sex couples indistinguishable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThis, he said, \u201cis not a hard question.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tCooper concluded that if \u201cthe natural procreative capacity of opposite-sex couples continues to pose vitally important benefits and risks to society,\u201d then \u201cthat's why marriage itself is the institution that society has always used to regulate those heterosexual, procreative relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe court may end up side-stepping a decision in the case, either by finding that those pursuing the case have no standing to do so, or they may dismiss the case as improvidently granted. In either scenario, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals' February 2012 decision striking down Prop 8 would be sustained.<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington D.C., Mar 26, 2013 \/ 04:38 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Redefining marriage to include same-sex couples could adversely affect families and society at large, the lawyer defending California's gay marriage ban told Supreme Court justices today.
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