The Mass. judge who first legalized same-sex marriage calls the Supreme Court ruling ‘wonderful’
The author of the landmark 2003 decision that allowed same-sex marriage in Massachusetts called today’s Supreme Court decision to allow them across the country “wonderful.’’
“This is the constitutional democracy working exactly as it should,’’ former Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Margaret Hilary Marshall told Boston.com.
“It’s wonderful to see the sweeping scope of the equality provision in the federal Constitution interpreted as broadly as we did under the Massachusetts Constitution,’’ she said. “It’s very reaffirming. And I think Justice Kennedy’s opinion has the same affirmative tone about it that the Goodridge decision does.’’
She said she has a “high regard’’ for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts but disagreed with his dissent, which argued that it is the elected legislature, rather than the Supreme Court, that should decide if same-sex marriage is legal.
“The legislative process, if anything, has shown time and time again that minorities have a very difficult time,’’ she said. “In my respectful judgment, Chief Justice Roberts sounds as if he’s in a parliamentary democracy, not a constitutional democracy.’’
Marshall said she had not yet read the dissenting opinion of Justice Antonin Scalia, which likened the opening of Justice Anthony Kennedy’s majority opinion — words Marshall said were “beautiful’’ — to “the mystical aphorisms of a fortune cookie.’’
Marshall retired from the bench in 2010 and is now a senior counsel at the law firm Choate, Hall & Stewart. She looked back on the 2003 decision and its aftermath as net positive experience.
“Certainly there was a lot of opposition to the Goodridge decision, but there was also a great deal of support for it,’’ she said. “Even today, people will come up to me, not just in Massachusetts but around the country, to say how much they’ve benefited themselves or someone in their family has benefited. It’s turned out to be a very, very positive outcome. I’ve been able to witness firsthand how important marriage is in all relationships — heterosexual and same-sex.’’
Photos: Reactions to the Supreme Court’s marriage equality decision
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