On November 1, law scholars from across the country participated in an Elon Law Review symposium titled, “The Implications of United States v. Windsor and Hollingsworth v. Perry for Family Law, Constitutional Law, Tax Law, and Society.”
The symposium was organized into three panels. The first panel addressed the construction and affects of United States v. Windsor. Members of the panel examined Windsor’s judicial craftsmanship, its expansion of prior cases Romer and Lawrence, its affects on federalism and equal protection, its implications for Section 2 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and same sex marriage bans, and its creation of a new test for constitutionality. The panel also discussed democracy and the culture of pluralism after Windsor and Hollingsworth v. Perry.
Presenters on panel one included:
Robert Destro, Professor in the School of Law at The Catholic University of America
William Duncan, Director of the Marriage Law Foundation, former visiting Professor of the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University
Scott Gaylord, Professor at the Elon University School of Law
Richard Myers, Professor at the Ave Maria School of Law
Clifford Rosky, Professor at the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law
Mark Strasser, Professor at the Capital University Law School
The second panel addressed how Windsor and Perry affect family law. Panelists explored whether the cases contribute to creating a new morality through old language, the collateral effects of the decisions, their implications for the American kinship system and the intersection of the decisions with North Carolina’s Amendment One (see Article XIV, Miscellaneous, Section 6 of North Carolina Constitution).
Presenters on panel two included:
Scott Fitzgibbon, Professor at the Boston College Law School
Lynne Marie Kohm, John Brown McCarty Professor of Family Law at Regent University School of Law
Rebecca Perry, NC Board Certified Family Law Specialist with McKinney, Perry, & Coalter
Lynn Wardle, Bruce C. Hafen Professor at the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University
Panel three examined federal and state taxes under DOMA. Panelists discussed the potential for differing tax levels and methods in different localities arising out of Windsor and Perry. They also examined estate planning, inheritance taxes and how Windsor and Perry are fueling heated tax debates.
Presenters on panel two included:
Jennifer Bird-Pollan, Professor at the University of Kentucky College of Law
Patricia Cain, Professor at the Santa Clara School of Law
David Herzig, Professor at the Valparaiso School of Law
This symposium was cosponsored by The Marriage and Family Law Research Project of BYU Law School.
More information about the Elon Law Review is available here.