S.F. City Attorney who served as co-counsel is ‘confident that this case will produce one of American history’s great landmarks for equal justice under the law’
WASHINGTON (March 26, 2013) — City Attorney Dennis Herrera today offered high praise to Ted Olson immediately following his oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, calling his forceful presentation and poised responses to judicial questioning “the capstone of a stellar four-year legal collaboration” to challenge the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8.
The San Francisco City Attorney has served as co-counsel in the litigation alongside co-lead counsel Olson and David Boies since August 2009, when San Francisco intervened as a party in the case to represent the public sector’s interest in ending marriage discrimination against lesbian and gay couples.
“Ted Olson today demonstrated why he is regarded across the political spectrum as a brilliant legal advocate,” said Herrera. “His presentation was the capstone of a stellar four-year legal collaboration, which my office is incredibly proud to have been a part of. For the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office, today is the penultimate event in a nine-year odyssey. It began with Mayor Gavin Newsom’s courageous decision to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2004, and it continued ever since with our groundbreaking public sector litigation for marriage equality. I am confident that this case will produce one of American history’s great landmarks for equal justice under the law. And when the history of this case is written, I know every San Franciscan will take pride in knowing that their City stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Ted Olson, David Boies and their legal team; with the American Foundation for Equal Rights; and with two couples whose loving relationships showed so powerfully why marriage matters: Kristin Perry and Sandra Stier; and Paul Katami and Jeffrey Zarrillo.”
The case is: Hollingsworth v. Perry, U.S. Supreme Court, Docket No. 12-144.