WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy eventually will get his hands on California’s gay marriage ban.
That’s when the landmark case will really get interesting.
Kennedy’s the one to watch, even if his name appears nowhere in a trial judge’s 138-page opinion issued Wednesday striking down California’s Proposition 8 ban on gay marriages. Nonetheless, Kennedy’s previous decisions were cited 16 times in U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker’s ruling that Proposition 8 violates the Constitution.
Walker’s citations to Kennedy foreshadow the highly anticipated showdown that’s to come when the Supreme Court finally considers gay marriage.
“It seems the issue will clearly be close, and on close cases (Kennedy) tends to be in the middle,” said Carl Tobias , a University of Richmond law professor.
Kennedy wrote gay-friendly opinions in a 1996 case striking down a Colorado ballot measure and a 2003 case striking down a Texas law that banned gay sodomy.
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