Federal Equal-Protection Suit on Gay Marriage Filed in San Francisco

By Evan Mix

Published on June 08, 2009

On May 22nd, one-time Solicitor General and highly regarded conservative attorney Ted Olson united with former legal adversary David Boles, filing a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco to challenge the constitutionality of state gay marriage bans like that recently enacted in California. Boles and Olson's suit challenges the laws on equal protection grounds, charging that by denying same-sex couples the right to marry, the laws create a group of second-class citizens.

The lawsuit marks the first serious federal challenge on the gay marriage issue, which has so far been addressed only by individual states. Some states, including Vermont, Iowa, and Maine, have recently legalized gay marriage; others, like California, have either considered or actually passed bans. If the Boles/Olson suit is eventually heard by the Supreme Court, it could be a precedent-setting case.

Ted Olson's involvement in the case is politically significant. In addition to serving as Bush's first Solicitor General, Olson was Assistant Attorney General under President Reagan and defended him during the Iran-Contra scandal. Olson also won the Bush v. Gore Supreme Court case that awarded the Presidency to Bush in 2000; Boles represented former Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore in that case.

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