Brief of Amici Curiae California Professors of Family Law in Support of Respondents in Hollingsworth v. Perry (U.S. Supreme Court No. 12-144)

Abstract

This amicus brief was submitted by twenty-seven California family law professors to the Supreme Court in the case of Hollingsworth v. Perry, the litigation challenging California Proposition 8, which limits marriage to a man and a woman. The brief focuses on California family law, demonstrating that all of the purported justifications proposed by supporters of Proposition 8 are totally contrary to California family law and policy and therefore cannot constitute a rational basis for denying same-sex couples the equal protection of the law. In particular, the brief demonstrates that Proposition 8 is harmful to the children of same-sex couples and that California law strongly prohibits harming some children in order to achieve even permissible goals.