- The scene outside the courthouse this morning seemed quieter compared to yesterday. Blame it on the rain, blame it on day-two fatigue -- no one (pro-marriage or anti-gay), according to SF Weekly, showed up outside the courtroom before today's hearing started.
- Rick Jacobs' excellent liveblogging of the hearing recommences on Prop8TrialTracker:
Plaintiffs attorney Theodore Boutrous quoting a statement made by the proponents:
"And the purpose of the institution of marriage, the central purpose is to promote procreation and to channel naturally procreative sexual activity between men and women into stable enduring unions it is the central and we would submit defining purpose of marriage."
Professor Coff: Procreation is one of the purposes of marriage. The larger purpose of marriage from the state’s perspective is the ordering of the household, the contribution to stability and governance. It’s important to recognize that marriage has been an instrument of governance.
How does that contribute to governance?
Prof: Looking at this historically, it’s the regulatory purpose of marriage. Husbands were economically responsible for their family/spouse. The point of marriage was so the sovereign could govern in smaller units, the household. We no longer assume that the single head of household has all the power, especially since 1920 when women got the right to vote. The institution of marriage has always been as much about supporting adults as it has been minors. The proponents emphasize the minors’.
Visit Prop8TrialTracker for more in-depth coverage of the first federal trial on same-sex marriage.
- Attorney Ted Olson and the four plaintiffs (Kris Perry & Sandy Stier and Paul Katami & Jeff Zarrillo) will be on the Today Show tomorrow morning between 7 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. ET/PT.
