首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
On January 11th, a remarkable legal case opens in a San Francisco courtroom—on its way, it seems almost certain, to the Supreme
On January 11th, a remarkable legal case opens in a San Francisco courtroom—on its way, it seems almost certain, to the Supreme
admin
2013-03-27
29
问题
On January 11th, a remarkable legal case opens in a San Francisco courtroom—on its way, it seems almost certain, to the Supreme Court. Perry v. Schwarzenegger challenges the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the California referendum that, in November 2008, overturned a state Supreme Court decision allowing same-sex couples to marry. Its lead lawyers are unlikely allies; Theodore B. Olson, the former solicitor general under President George W. Bush, and a prominent conservative; and David Boies, the Democratic trial lawyer who was his opposing counsel in Bush v. Gore. The two are mounting an ambitious case that pointedly circumvents the incremental, narrowly crafted legal gambits and the careful state-by-state strategy, leading gay-rights organizations have championed in the fight for marriage equality. The Olson-Boies team hopes for a ruling that will transform the legal and social landscape nationwide, something on the order of Brown v. Board of Education, in 1954, or Loving v.Virginia, the landmark 1967 Supreme Court ruling that invalidated laws prohibiting interracial marriage.
Olson’s interest in this case has puzzled quite a few people. What’s in it for him? Is he sincere? Does he really think he can sway the current Court? But when I spoke with Olson, who is sixty-nine, in early December, he sounded confident and impassioned; the case clearly fascinated him both as an intellectual challenge and as a way to make history. "The Loving case was forty-two years ago," he said, perched on the edge of his chair in the law offices of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, in Washington, D.C., where he is a partner. "It’s inconceivable to us these days to say that a couple of a different racial background can’t get married. " Olson wore a brightly striped shirt and a paisley tie, without a jacket; there was something folksy in his speech, which reminded me that he’s a Westerner, who grew up and was educated in Northern California. He said, "Separate is not equal. Civil unions and domestic partnerships are not the same as marriage. We’re not inventing any new right, or creating a new right, or asking the courts to recognize a new right. The Supreme Court has said over and over and over again that marriage is a fundamental right, and although our opponents say, ’Well, that’s always been involving a man and a woman,’ when the Supreme Court has talked about it, they’ve said it’s an associational right, it’s a liberty right, it’s a privacy right, and it’s an expression of your identity, which is all wrapped up in the Constitution. " "The Justices of the Supreme Court", Olson said, "are individuals who will consider this seriously, and give it good attention," and he was optimistic that he could persuade them.(The losing side in San Francisco will likely appeal to the Ninth Circuit, and from there the case could proceed to the Supreme Court.)Olson’s self-assurance has a sound basis: he has argued fifty-six cases before the high court—he was one of the busiest lawyers before the Supreme Court bench last year—and prevailed in forty-four of them. Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Anthony Kennedy attended his wedding three years ago, in Napa. Olson said that he wanted the gay-marriage case to be a "teaching opportunity, so people will listen to us talk about the importance of treating people with dignity and respect and equality and affection and love and to stop discriminating against people on the basis of sexual orientation. "
If the Perry case succeeds before the Supreme Court, it could mean that gay marriage would be permitted not only in California but in every state. And, if the Court recognized homosexuals as indistinguishable from heterosexuals for the purposes of marriage law, it would be hard, if not impossible, to uphold any other laws that discriminated against people on the basis of sexual orientation. However, a loss for Olson and Boies could be a major setback to the movement for marriage equality. Soon after Olson and Boies filed the case, last May, some leading gay-rights organizations—among them the A. C. L. U. , Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights— issued a statement condemning such efforts. The odds of success for a suit weren’t good, the groups said, because the "Supreme Court typically does not get too far ahead of either public opinion or the law in the majority of states. " The legal precedent that these groups were focused on wasn’t Loving v. Virginia but, rather, Bowers v. Hardwick, the 1986 Supreme Court decision that stunned gay-rights advocates by upholding Georgia’s antiquated law against sodomy. It was seventeen years before the Court was willing to revisit the issue, in Lawrence v. Texas, though by then only thirteen states still had anti-sodomy statutes; this time, the Court overturned the laws, with a 6-3 vote and an acerbic dissent from Justice Antonin Scalia, who declared that the Court had aligned itself with the "homosexual agenda," adding, "Many Americans do not want persons who openly engage in homosexual conduct as partners in their business, as scoutmasters for their children, as teachers in their children’s schools, or as boarders in their home. They view this as protecting themselves and their families from a lifestyle that they believe to be immoral and destructive. "
Seventeen years was a long time to wait. "A loss now may make it harder to go to court later," the activists’ statement read. "It will take us a lot longer to get a good Supreme Court decision if the Court has to overrule itself. " Besides, the groups argued, "We lost the right to marry in California at the ballot box. That’s where we need to win it back. " Plenty of gay-marriage supporters agreed that it was smarter to wait until the movement had been successful in more states—and, possibly, the composition of the Supreme Court had shifted.(During the last year of a second Obama term, Scalia would be eighty-one.)
The most suitable title of the passage would be______.
选项
A、A Risky Proposal
B、Gay Marriage? No!
C、A Monumental Movement
D、Fight for Equal Rights
答案
A
解析
全文围绕同性结婚这个案件展开,阐述了各方的意见,因而最适合的标题是A Risky Proposal。答案为A。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/aXmO777K
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
Lobbyinggroupsoftentrytodisguiseafinancialself-interestbyclumsilydressinguptheirargumentsintheguiseofconcern
Theenergycrisis,whichisbeingfeltaroundtheworld,hasdramatizedhowthecarelessuseoftheearth’sresourceshasbrough
Resistancetothe1954UnitedStatesSupremeCourtdecisionterminatingsegregationplacedtheschoolsinthemiddleofabitter
Overthepastfewyears,outcriesfromfoodactivistshavechangedmanyAmericans’eatinghabits:Criticismofwidespreadpestici
CrossingWesleyanuniversity’scampususuallyrequireswalkingovercolorfulmessageschalkedontheground.Theycanbeasinno
Smithfailedto______forthedeficitinthecompany’shankbalance.
Fallingsalesandrisingoverheadshaveobligedthecompanytorevieweachcustomer’s________limit.
WhenIwaswalkingdownthestreettheotherday,Ihappenedtonoticeasmallbrownleatherwalletlyingonthesidewalk.Ipic
Apreviouslyunknowndisease,SARShasenteredourdailyvocabulary.Nowweliveinits【1】WhileSARS【2】centerstage,anancient
AnumberofbookslikeReadingFacesandBodyLanguagehave【C1】______theindividual’stendencytobroadcastthingsthroughallm
随机试题
你在外单位昕到有人对你单位不好的评价,你怎么办?
呼气末正压通气(PEEP)
下列属于彩色多普勒技术的是
下列哪项不是开放性损伤
根据我国《刑事诉讼法》的规定和有关的司法解释,下列哪个说法是正确的?()
产生静电的方式有很多,当带电雾滴或粉尘撞击导体时,会产生静电,这种静电产生的方式属于()
报检单位应在报检地检验检疫机构办理备案登记手续。( )
“出口日期”栏:()。“征税性质”栏:()。
保险公司只能以现金方式向保险兼业代理人支付代理手续费,不得以直接冲减保费的方式向保险兼业代理人支付代理手续费。()
企业集团是以()为纽带的众多企业联合体。
最新回复
(
0
)