In a previous post I wrote about the overturning of California's Proposition 8, which bans gay marriage, by the US District Court. I thought it was interesting to note Schwarzenegger's position in this given that he is socially quite liberal; his name is on the case because he is California's Governor and while he opposes the ban he felt it was an important constitutional issue which needed to be decided in court.
The Democracy in America blog from the Economist has linked to a couple of video clips which show two of the lawyers involved in the overturning of the ban defending their position against the best that the Republican Party can throw at them: Essentially the right to marriage is a fundamental right under the constitution as decided in a number of previous Supreme Court judgements. The 14th Amendment which ensures equal treatment under the law includes the right of all Americans to get married to the person of their choice, irrespective of race or sexual orientation. Fundamental rights are ones which cannot be taken away by the states through laws or through public vote (as happened with Proposition 8):
Interestingly, the Republicans' argument in favour of a ban on gay marriage are shown in both clips to be very weak indeed. The second clip was initially found here.
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