

Everything you need to know about the Supreme Court ruling on Prop 8 & DOMA

by AirTalk

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In a landmark 5-4 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a key provision in the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that denied benefits for married same-sex couples. As for California's Proposition 8, the court left in place a lower court's ruling that declared Prop 8 unconstitutional, thus allowing California to resume same-sex marriages. 

Same-sex marriage is currently recognized by 12 states and the District of Columbia. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion that struck Proposition 8, citing that the court did not have the "authority to decide this case on the merits."

KPCC's coverage of DOMA and Prop 8

After a year of building anticipation and other highly publicized Supreme Court cases, today is a landmark win for gay rights.

AirTalk: Supreme Court oral arguments and analysis of CA's Prop 8 hearing

On today's show:

Legal Analysis

How did the Justices reason out the cases? What about the dissents? Are further legal challenges expected regarding DOMA?

Twitter's temperature, trends and top tweets on #Prop8 and #DOMA

From RuPaul to Rand Paul, how is the twitterverse reacting the Supreme Court decision? How are political leaders responding? What are the top tweets? (Scroll down to see our Twitter feed.)

Practical fall-out from decision on Defense of Marriage Act

Will there be a backlash in public opinion and activism? Some say the consequences of this decision will set back the gay rights movement. Others disagree. 

Response from religious leaders

How will religious communities respond? Will today's decisions affect Sunday sermons? Are viewpoints in religious circles changing?

Proposition 8 and California law

What does all the legal terminology mean? What are the ramifications? How soon will same-sex marriages resume? 

What this means for the military

How will DOMA impact military spouses? What benefit provisions will change? Will same-sex couples be allowed to be buried alongside each other?

Same-sex marriage: the political is personal for these Californians

How does the Supreme Court's decision affect you? Will this change the atmosphere of the gay community? Will it cause same-sex couples to relocate? Will more couples put down roots and financial investments?

AirTalk will take your calls during the show, but please start submitting web comments now for Larry to read on-air.


Lisa McElroy, Assoc. Prof. of Law, Earle Mack School of Law, Drexel University

John Eastman, Professor of Law and Founding Director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence and former Dean at Chapman University School of Law; chairman of the National Organization for Marriage

Laura Brill, Partner with the law firm Kendall Brill Klieger and former Supreme Court Law Clerk for the Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg 

Ivy Bottini, Gay rights pioneer in Southern California

Mike Roe, Web Producer, KPCC Digital Media

Suzanne Goldberg, Professor of Law at Columbia University

Rob Levinson, Senior Defense Analyst at Bloomberg Government

Jenny Pizer, Senior Counsel and Director, Law and Policy Project, Lambda Legal 

Richard Chung, a Pastor of a Chinese church in Los Angeles


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