San Francisco was the only party allowed to intervene in the famous Marriage Equality case, ultimately called Hollingsworth v. Perry, 133 S. Ct. 2652 (2014). Private lawyers filed a challenge against California’s initiative-imposed ban on same-sex marriage, Proposition 8, but the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office successfully argued that it would face unique injuries as a city due to the ban. The City took a strong stand on behalf of equality and against the discriminatory ban, asserting that "relegating gay couples to a lesser status simply to brand them as different and less worthy than opposite-sex couples is not a legitimate purpose’—language that would be echoed in the Supreme Court’s ultimate finding that the Fourteenth Amendment required states to license marriages between two individuals of the same sex.
SFALP students contributed extensively to the case at every stage, from predecessor cases in state courts through the Ninth Circuit and up to the Supreme Court. Nearly every student in the clinic contributed to the case over the course of litigation.
Read More:
A History of San Francisco’s Legal Fight for Marriage Equality
Student Clinic Works to Prepare Historic Proposition 8 Case for High Court
Herrera files Prop 8 brief in U.S. Supreme Court, capping 9-year legal battle for marriage equality