A Lesson In Constitutional Law From Stephen Colbert

How would Stephen Colbert interpret the Equal Protection Clause?

We do treat [gays] the same. None of them can get married to each other. That’s called equal protection. Are you familiar with that clause?

Stephen Colbert, speaking about same-sex marriage last night while interviewing David Boies and Ted Olson, the lawyers behind the legal challenge to Proposition 8 and the authors of a new book, Redeeming the Dream: The Case for Marriage Equality (affiliate link).

(More about Boies and Olson and their book, plus video footage of their Colbert Report appearance, after the jump.)

I learned about Boies and Olson’s Colbert Report appearance while waiting to hear them speak at the Hudson Union Society last night. An announcer informed us that the event would be starting slightly late because Boies and Olson were taking longer than expected to make their way over after their Colbert taping.

The Hudson Union Society talk was unfortunately off the record (although the Society might post video to its website at a later point in time). But fear not; Boies and Olson made a number of the same points in their excellent Colbert Report appearance, embedded below.

If that video clip doesn’t satiate your desire for Boies and Olson, you should buy their book, which has been praised as a “carefully crafted, highly accessible play-by-play of the complex four-and-a-half-year legal battle” over marriage equality. Then tune into HBO on Monday night to watch The Case Against 8, an acclaimed documentary about the legal battle for marriage equality waged by Boies and Olson.

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Congratulations and thanks to David Boies and Ted Olson for all of their success so far in championing the cause of marriage equality, and best of luck to them as they continue to fight this battle in the courts of law and public opinion.

P.S. Thanks to Lisa Solomon for inviting me to join her at the Hudson Union Society event!

Redeeming the Dream: The Case for Marriage Equality [Amazon (affiliate link)]
The Case Against 8 [official movie website]
David Boies & Theodore B. Olson [Colbert Report]

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