By Tom Watts
Today, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal on California’s Proposition 8 in Hollingsworth v. Perry, allowing the District Court’s decision overturning Prop 8 to stand. This decision returned California to the list of states permitting same-sex marriage. With this decision, accompanied by the defeat of DOMA in United States v. Windsor, today was a great day in the fight for gay rights.
But as the just euphoria over a major civil rights victory at a court that has been quite hostile to civil rights — let us not forget the demise of a significant portion of the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County v. Holder just yesterday — begins to settle, we should consider just how the Court came to these salutary outcomes. I suggest this because I believe that Perry was wrongly decided.