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David Boies: Progress on Prop 8 lawsuit “frustratingly slow”
October 25, 2011
By Adam Bink
NEW YORK — Speaking at the first gay wedding ceremony held in New York’s Four Seasons restaurant, lawyer David Boies, who is challenging the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8, told HuffPost on Sunday that progress on the case has been “frustratingly slow.”
Boies, who is arguing the lawsuit on behalf of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, noted that more than a year has passed since then-U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker struck down Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriages in California. But the appeals court to which conservative groups took their case after that has yet to rule on whether it will uphold Walker’s decision. Same-sex couples cannot currently be married in the state.
“We still don’t have a decision,” Boies said. “Every day, people’s constitutional rights are being restricted.”
As Boies spoke, Aretha Franklin was belting out one of her legendary soul songs at the wedding of Bill White and Bryan Eure in Manhattan. The two well-connected New Yorkers made their marriage a high-profile affair to drive home the fact that gay couples in 44 states still don’t have the right to marry. White is the former president of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. Eure is a senior vice president at the insurance brokerage Willis.
Celebrities in attendance included Barbara Walters, Lou Dobbs, record label impresario Clive Davis and Oprah confidante Gayle King. Many of New York’s political figures attended as well, including former Gov. David Paterson, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, former Mayor David Dinkins and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.
The ceremony was wrapped in patriotic trappings: red, white and blue carpets, flanked by a Navy JROTC color guard, welcomed attendees into the iconic Seagram Building that houses the Four Seasons. Many of the guests inside were veterans friendly with White from his Intrepid days.
Evan Dash, a retired Navy lieutenant commander who was keeping watch over the color guard out front, said its presence at the wedding was sanctioned by the Navy.
“It went up the chain of command,” he said. He added that he thought the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, which prevented gay members of the military from serving openly, “was inevitable, and a positive development.”
After White was married to his longtime partner, a broad smile stretched across his face. “We’re pretty damn lucky to be Americans,” he told his guests.
“It’s time for the rest of the country to get with the program,” he added.
Boies hopes that events like White and Eure’s wedding will eventually become “so ordinary that no one would think to comment on it.”
A reminder to the courts of the human cost of delay:
Filed under: Prop 8 trial
16 Comments Leave a Comment
1.
Ann S. | October 25, 2011 at 3:02 pm
§
2.
Alan_Eckert | October 25, 2011 at 3:05 pm
∞
3.
Sagesse | October 25, 2011 at 3:09 pm
The excerpt above doesn't make clear that Boise was there because he was officiating. Pretty neat.
4.
Ray | October 25, 2011 at 3:50 pm
The guys in the video look familiar to me. It's not captioned so I don't know. I think these two guys live near me in Palm Springs.
5.
Alan_Eckert | October 25, 2011 at 4:10 pm
I think these are the guys from Palm Springs, but they were featured in an earlier campaign, too.
6.
Michael | October 25, 2011 at 4:30 pm
Lou Dobbs was in attendance?
7.
Bob | October 25, 2011 at 4:37 pm
"time for the rest of the country to get with the program" AGREE,,,,,,,,,
8.
MJFargo | October 25, 2011 at 5:12 pm
Congrats to the happy couple!
9.
Ronnie | October 25, 2011 at 7:05 pm
“It’s time for the rest of the country to get with the program,”……. HEAR!!! HEAR!!!!…..& three cheers for the happy couple….. <3…Ronnie
10.
Sam | October 25, 2011 at 7:52 pm
Kind of an infuriating comment, though–he and Olson lost us almost a year with this standing business and having to go the Cal. Sup Ct., which is going to go ahead and grant the intervenors standing anyway. Remember, the 9th Circuit gave the merits appeal EXPEDITED treatment, and then Boies and Olson just made us wait a whole year. Then en banc and cert….it would've been nice if they were just confident enough of the merits argument and went ahead with that.
11.
Ann S. | October 25, 2011 at 9:05 pm
The standing argument is likely to appeal to the conservatives on the SCOTUS. The merits — that's less certain.
12.
devon | October 26, 2011 at 8:01 am
The most interesting thing about the post is that 75% of the article was devoted to the wedding of 2 wealthy gay men. The important comments by Mr. Boies seem merely a prelude to another celebration of wealth and influence.
13.
Adam Bink | October 26, 2011 at 8:55 am
I look at it a slightly different way — having two bites at the apple on the case itself. One is standing, the other is constitutionality. We couldn't have known how the Cal Supreme Court would react.
I hear your argument and an argument that "we" would want courts to strike Prop 8 down on the merits, but I also hear an argument that for someone who wants Prop 8 to end very badly, making an argument on standing creates another path to doing so.
14.
Sam | October 26, 2011 at 5:18 pm
Sigh…I suppose so. Do you have any thoughts on what the new confluence of timing with Perry and Gill will mean, since the Cal Sup Ct decision will roughly coincide with the end of briefing in the 1st Circuit? Do you think it'll be a good thing for the Supreme Court to (maybe) deal with both at once? Any thoughts on what the 3-3 denial of initial en banc review on the 1st Circuit means?
15.
supersmoker | January 3, 2012 at 8:02 am
How cool is that? I do know Kernek from about 10 years ago. Great find!
16.
Toner | February 3, 2012 at 7:21 pm
What about Lou? I did not get that part. Best wishes to Kernek.
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