Reply to Tom

Thanks very much for your thoughtful posting, Tom.

About the middle of next year,the Cambridge University Press will publish my new book:  Toward a Theory of Human Rights:  Religion, Law, Courts.  In the book, among other things, I explain why, in my judgment, the best understanding of the Fourteenth Amendment is one according to which states must extend the benefit of law to same-sex unions (whether or not states call them "marriages").  However, I also explain why the United States Supreme Court should NOT so rule.   I then explain why the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court should not so rule does not entail that a state supreme court should not so rule under the antidiscrimination provision of the state constitution. (Nor, of course, does it entail that a state supreme court should so rule.)  So, my answer to your question about the court's decision in the Goodridge case is compex, and the best I can do now is issue a promissory note:   I'll answer when the book is published.   If anyone wants to see a draft of the relevant chapters of the book, please send me an e-mail message:  [email protected].
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mp