Word: legalism
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Though disputed by the other side, the argument has legal resonance because the U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled, in its landmark 2004 Lawrence v. Texas decision decriminalizing gay sex, that by itself moral opprobrium by the majority, no matter how long-standing, is not enough to justify discriminatory treatment of minorities, including gays and lesbians...
...part, Boies told TIME that the trial has shown that legal discrimination against gays - in particular rules banning their marriage - starts with simple prejudice, in the form of religion-inspired views about the morality of homosexuality itself. "The Southern Baptist Convention describes homosexuality as an 'abomination,'" Boies told TIME, as he prepared for what would be three days of sometimes blistering cross-examinations as the trial wound down. "The Catholic Church calls homosexual activity 'gravely immoral.' Who is kidding whom? These are sincerely held beliefs, to which they are certainly entitled. But no one ought to kid themselves that what...
...Some legal experts say the record isn't clear that religious views are the root of all opposition to gay marriage. "The stone-cold truth is there's more to opposition to same-sex marriage than the view that homosexuality is immoral, big part of it though that is," says Professor Marc Spindelman of Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law. "While evidence suggests there were those who thumped for Prop 8 who did so from religious scruples, not everybody who voted for it did." Some voters, he says, simply fear that not enough is known yet about...
That's where the trial - and the federal rules of evidence that govern it - comes in. "This case clearly presents a clash of worldviews," Spindelman says. "But the legal system can't just pick sides between them; it couldn't and still be a decision consistent with the rule of law. There must be reasons for whatever conclusion the trial court reaches and facts supporting them...
...convince higher courts that the prohibitions against gay marriage are illegal under the U.S. Constitution. Pizer, the gay-rights lawyer, says that has been the key to Olson and Boies' strategy throughout the trial. "The presentations are a combination of evidence that relates to the elements of the particular legal tests and also compelling narrative that shows who gay people are, which is important because the pervasive invisibility of most gay people is our biggest challenge. So some of the plaintiffs' testimony was to reveal the hurt most of us usually don't express, which supports the legal claim that...