California's high court hears arguments in case on defining marriage

Published: 2008-03-06

SAN FRANCISCO (CNS) -- The California Supreme Court's opinion on the definition of marriage will mark a step in a national debate that remains far from settled, according to a law professor who audited the high court's March 4 hearing in San Francisco on a legal challenge to a voter-backed measure upholding traditional marriage. The measure, Proposition 22, states that "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." It was ratified by an overwhelming majority of California voters in 2000. "No matter what the decision is, we're in a time of transition as far as marriage rights across the country," said Beth Hillman, a professor at the University of California's Hastings College of the Law. In an interview with Catholic San Francisco, the archdiocesan newspaper, Hillman predicted the debate on same-sex marriage will evolve as courts and legislatures in many states struggle over several aspects of the issue, including whether the traditional definition of marriage deprives same-sex couples of a right they charge they should share with heterosexual couples.

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