Professor Joslin Co-authors Amicus Brief on Supreme Court Same-Sex Marriage Cases

Professor Courtney Joslin co-authored an amicus brief that was filed in the four same-sex marriage cases pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. The brief was submitted on behalf of more than 70 family law professors. At issue in the cases is whether states must allow same-sex marriages and whether they must recognize same-sex marriages entered into in other states. The brief is co-authored with Professor Joan Heifetz Hollinger of UC Berkeley School of Law and attorneys E. Joshua Rosenkranz, Mark S. Davies, and Jeremy Peterman of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.

In the brief, the amici detail the many ways in which state family laws contradict the primary arguments of marriage ban defenders, who hold that a defining element of marriage is the possibility of biological, unassisted procreation and that the optimal setting for raising children is a home with their married, biological mothers and fathers. State laws have never limited marriage to those who can procreate, the amici explain. In addition, the states do not always privilege biological parents over other legal parents.

Professor Joslin is a scholar in the field of family and relationship recognition, with a particular focus on same-sex and non-marital couples.