Breaking: California Supreme Court Upholds Gay Marriage
In five minutes, at 10 AM Pacific time, the California Supreme Court will hand down its ruling on same-sex marriage. We will update this post -- and fill in the blank in the post's title -- once we have the substance of the ruling.
Update: The opinion is here (PDF -- and thanks, commenters, for the link and excerpts). Reversing the appeals court, the California Supreme Court struck down the state's statutory ban on same-sex marriage. Slip op. at 12:
Under these circumstances, we cannot find that retention of the traditional definition of marriage constitutes a compelling state interest. Accordingly, we conclude that to the extent the current California statutory provisions limit marriage to opposite-sex couples, these statutes are unconstitutional.
Slip op. at 120:
[T]he language of section 300 limiting the designation of marriage to a union "between a man and a woman" is unconstitutional and must be stricken from the statute, and... the remaining statutory language must be understood as making the designation of marriage available both to opposite-sex and same-sex couples.
Further Update: From the AP:
The California Supreme Court has overturned a gay marriage ban in a ruling that would make the nation's largest state the second one to allow gay and lesbian weddings. The justices' 4-3 decision Thursday says domestic partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage. Chief Justice Ron George wrote the opinion....The case before the court involved a series of lawsuits seeking to overturn a voter-approved law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. With the ruling, California could become the second state after Massachusetts where gay and lesbian residents can marry.
In re Marriage Cases [Supreme Court of California (PDF)]
California Supreme Court overturns gay marriage ban [AP]
Calif. same-sex marriage ban struck down [CNN]
Pre-Gaming the California Same-Sex Marriage Ruling [WSJ Law Blog]


In Chicago, gay lawyers get to attend
Why was Cinderella stuck in the office doing document review, while her wicked stepsisters nibbled on caviar and danced the night away?
In an
Several readers drew our attention to this fascinating 
We were rightfully ribbed for having so few details in yesterday's post about the
[O]ne of our summers got fired... Apparently, while he was on the Newport retreat, he did something offensive, and no one knows what, exactly. The most likely story is that he said something homophobic to a lesbian partner, but it's all speculation.
Even in these dark days, as an anxious nation awaits the latest dispatch from the associate salary wars, the wedding machine grinds on. We salute the brave couples who choose to go ahead with their ceremonies in the face of all this uncertainty -- after all, how crushing would it be to return from your honeymoon and find your employer on someone's List of Shame!
We realize this news broke last week. But we were on vacation -- and it's just too good to omit from these pages. From
1. Texas state court judge
Law firm recruiting season is winding down, but we remain interested in your job interview horror stories. To read prior stories, click


