Gay Marriage: for Better or for Worse?: What We've Learned from the Evidence

Opponents of same-sex marriage in the United States claim that allowing gays and lesbians to marry would undermine the institution of marriage, weaken family structures, and cause harm to children. Drawing from 17 years of data and experience with same-sex marriage in Scandinavia (in the form of registered partnerships), Gay Marriage: For Better or for Worse? is the first book to present empirical evidence about the effects of same-sex marriage on society. Spedale and Eskridge find that the evidence refutes conservative defense-of-marriage arguments and, in fact, demonstrates that the institution of marriage may indeed benefit from the legalization of gay marriage. If we look at the proof from abroad, the authors show, we must conclude that the sanctioning of gay marriage in the United States would neither undermine marriage as an institution, nor harm the wellbeing of our nation's children. "A very interesting book that people should read." --Bill O'Reilly, Host, The O'Reilly Factor "Whatever your views are now on same-sex marriage, this is the book to read to be informed about why same sex couples want legal recognition and what legal union means to them and to the larger community. Spedale and Eskridge give detailed accounts of the effects of registered partnerships in Scandinavia--and along the way, offer fascinating and engaging pictures of many people's lives." --Martha Minow, Jeremiah Smith Jr. Professor, Harvard Law School "Spedale and Eskridge illuminate with remarkable even-handedness a debate that tends to generate more heat than light. They provide a cogent analysis of conservative arguments that same-sex matrimony threatens conventional marriage, and argue persuasively that enabling same-sex partners to marry may actually strengthen that beleaguered institution." --John Podesta, President and CEO, Center for American Progress "An important and timely contribution. It should be required reading for anyone interested in the future of families in America." --Martha Albertson Fineman, Robert W. Woodruff Professor, Emory Law School

Politics & Social Sciences

Eskridge Jr., William N.

Spedale, Darren R.

Social Sciences

Oxford University Press

Parenting & Relationships

William Eskridge and John Ferejohn propose an original theory of constitutional law whereby, while the Constitution provides a vision, our democracy advances by means of statutes that supplement or even supplant the written Constitution.

A Republic of Statutes: The New American Constitution

Ferejohn, John

Constitutional Law

Yale University Press

<div>Winner of the 2021 ABA Silver Gavel Award: The definitive history of the marriage equality debate in the United States, praised by Library Journal as&nbsp;"beautifully and accessibly written. . . . An essential work." "[A] magnum opus about the political and legal path to Obergefell."--Eric Cervini, New York Times Book Review "[An] impressive survey of how far the gay rights movement has come."--Publishers Weekly As a legal scholar who first argued in the early 1990s for a right to gay marriage, William N. Eskridge Jr. has been on the front lines of the debate over same&#8209;sex marriage for decades. In this book, Eskridge and his coauthor, Christopher R. Riano, offer a panoramic and definitive history of America's marriage equality debate. The authors explore the deeply religious, rabidly political, frequently administrative, and pervasively constitutional features of the debate and consider all angles of its dramatic history. While giving a full account of the legal and political issues, the authors never lose sight of the personal stories of the people involved, or of the central place the right to marry holds in a person's ability to enjoy the dignity of full citizenship. This is not a triumphalist or one&#8209;sided book but a thoughtful history of how the nation wrestled with an important question of moral and legal equality.</div>

Marriage Equality: From Outlaws to In-Laws (Yale Law Library Series in Legal History and Reference)

Riano, Christopher R.

Legal History

The new edition of Farber, Eskridge, Frickey and Schacter’s Cases and Materials on Constitutional Law exploits the two most exciting developments in Constitutional Law teaching in the last thirty years: the judiciary’s dramatic engagement with social movements and key political debates, and academic and judicial deployment of original meaning as a central methodology. Thus, the new edition presents a most systematic introduction of original meaning methodology for law students, starting with the evolution of “originalism” in response to the academic debates over Brown v. Board of Education, and continuing with in-depth examination of what original meaning teaches us about the Fourteenth Amendment, as well as the First and Second Amendments, the Commerce Clause and other authorizations for congressional regulation, the federalist structure of the Constitution, and the separation of powers. The new edition provides in-depth treatment of the most exciting issues in constitutional law today―including the validity of affirmative action, exemplified by state discriminations based upon sexuality or gender; the imperial First Amendment, threatening to impose a new Lochner-type era of judicial review of economic legislation; the increasingly prominent federalism limitations on congressional and state authority, powerfully illustrated by the ObamaCare Case and the Arizona Immigration Case; and the limitations on the imperial presidency posed by the War on Terror Cases.

Cases and Materials on Constitutional Law, Themes for the Constitution's Third Century, 5th (American Casebook Series)

Farber, Daniel A.

Frickey, Philip P.

Schacter, Jane

West Academic Publishing

Equality Practice

William Eskridge, a Yale law professor chronicles the Vermont law which legalised civil unions - distinct from marriage - for same sex couples.

Equality Practice: Civil Unions and the Future of Gay Rights

Routledge

Contrary to traditional theories of statutory interpretation, which ground statutes in the original legislative text or intent, legal scholar William Eskridge argues that statutory interpretation changes in response to new political alignments, new interpreters, and new ideologies. It does so, first of all, because it involves richer authoritative texts than does either common law or constitutional interpretation: statutes are often complex and have a detailed legislative history. Second, Congress can, and often does, rewrite statutes when it disagrees with their interpretations; and agencies and courts attend to current as well as historical congressional preferences when they interpret statutes. Third, since statutory interpretation is as much agency-centered as judge-centered and since agency executives see their creativity as more legitimate than judges see theirs, statutory interpretation in the modern regulatory state is particularly dynamic.
Eskridge also considers how different normative theories of jurisprudence―liberal, legal process, and antiliberal―inform debates about statutory interpretation. He explores what theory of statutory interpretation―if any―is required by the rule of law or by democratic theory. Finally, he provides an analytical and jurisprudential history of important debates on statutory interpretation.

Dynamic Statutory Interpretation

Law Practice

Harvard University Press

Gaylaw: Challenging the Apartheid of the Closet

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the legal issues concerning gender and sexual nonconformity in the United States. Part One, which covers the years from the post-Civil War period to the 1980s, is a history of state efforts to discipline and punish the behavior of homosexuals and other people considered to be deviant. During this period such people could get by only at the cost of suppressing their most basic feelings and emotions. Part Two addresses contemporary issues. Although it is no longer illegal to be openly gay in America, homosexuals still suffer from state discrimination in the military and in other realms, and private discrimination and violence against gays is prevalent. William Eskridge presents a rigorously argued case for the "sexualization" of the First Amendment, showing why, for example, same-sex ceremonies and intimacy should be considered "expressive conduct" deserving the protection of the courts. The author draws on legal reasoning, sociological studies, and history to develop an effective response to the arguments made in defense of the military ban. The concluding part of the book locates the author's legal arguments within the larger currents of liberal theory and integrates them into a general stance toward freedom, gender equality, and religious pluralism.

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Books by Eskridge Jr., William N.