On Same-Sex Marriage, Civil Unions, and the Rule of Law: Constitutional Interpretation at the Crossroads

(Hardback)

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The rights of all Americans must be significantly diluted in order to justify the claim that same-sex couples and their children are not protected by the U.S. Constitution. The United States Constitution has already been interpreted to provide a variety of family-related protections, which, if applied consistently, also protect same-sex couples and their children. Only by radically reformulating and severely undermining existing protections can courts and commentators justify the claim that the Federal Constitution does not offer a wealth of family protections including the right to marry a same-sex partner. Discussing the constitutional implications of civil unions with a special focus on how they might be treated in the interstate context, Strasser explains how the courts and commentators have reworked and significantly weakened a variety of constitutional protections in their attempts to establish that same-sex couples are not afforded constitutional protections. He further suggests that the constitutional protections for religion support rather than undermine that the U.S. Constitution protects same-sex unions.

Author Bio

MARK STRASSER is Trustees Professor of Law, Capital University Law School, Columbus, Ohio. He is the co-editor of Same-Sex Marriages: A Debate (Praeger, forthcoming), The Challenge of Same-Sex Marriage: Federalist Principles and Constitutional Protections (Praeger, 1999), and Legally Wed: Same-Sex Marriage and the Constitution (1997).