Calif. Gay Marriages Raise Legal Questions Nationwide

The laws governing marriage nationwide are a complicated state-by-state patchwork, with little or no interstate recognition. The recent ruling in California legalizing same-sex marriage adds another layer of complexity to the legal landscape. Legal experts examine these questions.

To understand the legal questions this raises, we turn to two professors of law: John Eastman, dean of the Chapman University School of Law in Orange, California; and David Cruz of the University of Southern California School of Law.

California decision will ripple

RAY SUAREZ: Professor Eastman, this being the largest state in the union, just by changing its own law does it immediately change the family law legal landscape across the country?

JOHN EASTMAN, Chapman University: It does not, but the implications are different than the Massachusetts case of five years ago. Massachusetts had an in-state residency requirement that California does not have.

And that means there will be an incentive for people to travel to California from across the country and then return to their home states in much larger numbers than existed just with the Massachusetts decision.

RAY SUAREZ: Well, doing what? If 26 states say that they won't recognize it -- in fact, the Defense of Marriage Act tells them that they're perfectly allowed not to recognize those marriages.

JOHN EASTMAN: Well, they are, if the Defense of Marriage Act is constitutional, if it's not challenged in the courts, if various state prohibitions are not challenged in the courts. And I fully expect in very short order that those things will all be challenged in the courts.

And then the state courts and, ultimately, the federal courts will have a big issue on their hands. Are they going to uphold those statutes?

Remember, California had a statute, as well, Proposition 22, adopted by roughly 70 percent of the people in this state just eight years ago. But the Supreme Court struck that down last month.
And, you know, there will be a big push in many of the other states to strike down their statutes and even constitutional provisions, as well.

If you would like to see this entire interview, please visit: http://www.paradigmshiftpr.com/media/placements/gaymarriagequestions.htm