Ted Olson, who successfully argued the
challenge to California's gay marriage ban, Proposition 8, says in a
new interview that it's unlikely that the Supreme Court would rule in
favor of state marriage bans.
The Supreme Court this month refused to
hear appeals in cases challenging bans in five states, allowing lower
court rulings striking down state bans to take effect. The high
court also refused to halt an appeals court's ruling declaring such
bans invalid from taking effect. The decisions effectively increased
the number of states where gay couples can marry from 19 to 35,
though three states have yet to comply. Gay couples can also marry
in the District of Columbia.
“I do believe this is a point of no
return. I do not believe that the United States Supreme Court could
rule that all of those laws prohibiting marriage are suddenly
constitutional after all these individuals have gotten married and
their rights have changed,” Olson told USA
Today's Susan Page, host of Capital
Download. “To have that snatched away, it seems to me,
would be inhuman; it would be cruel; and it would be inconsistent
with what the Supreme Court has said about these issues in the cases
that it has rendered.”
The 71-year-old Olson, a Republican
lawyer best known for representing President George W. Bush in the
landmark Bush v. Gore case that settled the 2000 presidential
election, stunned fellow conservatives when he joined the legal team
representing two gay couples challenging Proposition 8.
“Some Republicans disagree with me,
some conservatives disagree with me, but the number who disagree is
getting smaller and smaller,” Olson said. “Young Republicans are
extraordinarily supportive. … The people who are under 30, whether
they're Democrats or Republicans, don't even understand why this is
an issue. They have friends that they want to see happy.”
After arguing 61 cases before the
Supreme Court, Olson said that his work on marriage equality means
the most to him.