Ted Olson's Opening Statement

The Equal Rights Foundation has published Ted Olson's opening statement from Perry v. Schwarnengger, which began this morning. It begins:

This case is about marriage and equality. Plaintiffs are being denied both the right to marry, and the right to equality under the law.The Supreme Court of the United States has repeatedly described the right to marriage as “one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men;” a “basic civil right;” a component of the constitutional rights to liberty, privacy, association, and intimate choice; an expression of emotional support and public commitment; the exercise of spiritual unity; and a fulfillment of one’s self.In short, in the words of the highest court in the land, marriage is “the most import ant relation in life,” and “of fundamental importance for all individuals.”

As the witnesses in this case will elaborate, marriage is central to life in America. It promotes mental, physical and emotional health and the economic strength and stability of those who enter into a marital union. It is the building block of family, neighborhood and community. The California Supreme Court has declared that the right to marry is of “central importance to an individual’s opportunity to live a happy, meaningful, and satisfying life as a full member of society.” Proposition 8 ended the dream of marriage, the most important relation in life, for the plaintiffs and hundreds of thousands of Californians.

Read the entire speech.

RELATED: Over on the National Review's blog, Maggie Gallagher triumphantly points to today's New York Times op-ed piece by former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese, who thinks "the deck in stacked" against pro-family forces due to Perry's "home court advantage" in San Francisco and by Judge Vaughn Walker's pre-trial disclosure rulings.