Maura Dolan and Lee Romney report on the front page of today’s Los Angeles Times about California’s role in the historic US Supreme Court same-sex marriage opinion, including the California Supreme Court’s 4-3 decision seven years ago that reached the same conclusion as the high court did yesterday. Just as Perez v. Sharp (1948) 32 Cal.2d 711 preceded Loving v. Virginia (1967) 388 U.S. 1 concerning interracial marriage, so did In re Marriage Cases (2008) 43 Cal.4th 757 precede Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) __ U.S. __ [2015 WL 2473451] on same-sex marriage.
The article recounts the story, which has been public knowledge, that then-Chief Justice Ronald George, the author of the In re Marriage Cases opinion, wrote two drafts of the decision — one for and one against recognizing a right to same-sex marriage under the state constitution — and cast his own vote only after eliciting comments from other members of the court.
The Obergefell Court does not give In re Marriage Cases its due. The California opinion is mentioned only in an appendix list — a long list — of other same-sex marriage decisions. The California Supreme Court’s part is more than a footnote to some, however. In the Los Angeles Times article, George tells how, just last year, while he was on an Arctic cruise with his wife, two lesbian couples sent to his table a bottle of wine with a note, “Can we come over and give you a hug?”