Chad Griffin, the president of the
Human Rights Campaign (HRC), believes the Supreme Court will side
with proponents of gay marriage.
In an appearance on MSNBC's Hardball,
Griffin sounded confident that the case challenging California's
marriage ban, which he helped bring to the high court in his former
role as president of the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER),
would emerge victorious.
The case, Hollingsworth v. Perry,
challenges the state's 2008 voter-approved constitutional amendment
defining marriage as a heterosexual union. The measure was put in
place after the California Supreme Court legalized marriage for gay
and lesbian couples.
A federal district court judge declared
the measure unconstitutional and an appeals court upheld that
decision.
“We made the case in court, [lawyers]
Ted Olson and David Boies made the case in court, that in this
country we don't deny our citizens a fundamental right,” Griffin
said. “And the Supreme Court has called marriage a fundamental
right no less than 14 times in the history of this country.”
“And I'm optimistic that once this
court does hear this case and the DOMA case that they are going to
come down on the side of freedom, liberty and equality, just as they
have so many times in our nation's past,” he added.
The Supreme Court is expected to hear
arguments in March and deliver a ruling in June.