Perdue v. O'Kelley Oral Argument

Arguments at the Georgia Supreme Court this morning, June 27, in Perdue v. O'Kelley, the gay marriage amendment case, will be webcast live via RealPlayer. Watch the webcast, and read the briefs. (Disclaimer: BME represented plaintiff-appellee Senator David Adelman on appeal.)

For those unfamiliar with the case, the amendment has two parts: one declares "marriage" to be "only the union of man and woman" and prohibits same-sex marriage, while the second goes further and declares that no "union" between two persons of the same sex will be "entitled to the benefits of marriage" and no "any public act, record, or judicial proceeding" of any other state "respecting a relationship between persons of the same sex" will be recognized, nor divorces from those unions granted. The ballot provision read: "Proposing an amendment to the Constitution so as to provide that this state shall recognize as marriage only the union of man and woman; to provide for submission of this amendment for ratification or rejection; and for other purposes."

The trial court found, over the plaintiffs' objections that the ballot provision misleadingly left out a description of the second part of the amendment, that this language was within the legislature's discretion to draft ballot language. However, the trial court also found that the amendment violated the single subject rule by addressing both same-sex "marriage" and the treatment of all other "unions" in the same provision. The state appealed, and the Georgia Supreme Court granted the state's request for expedited arguments.

This is an especially dicey argument because this amendment passed by an overwhelming margin in 2004, and four of the seven Georgia Supreme Court Justices are up for election this year.
We'll have more on the arguments as they proceed...

How Appealing covers these arguments and related news here.