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The State of the Gay Union
In President Bush's January 20th State of the Union Address, he spoke of a need to halt the movement toward allowing same-sex couples to marry. If activist judges insist on changing the traditional characterization of marriage as a union between a man and a woman, he said, a change to the U.S. Constitution will be needed to preserve the “sanctity” of the institution of marriage. Judges have “begun redefining marriage by court order, without regard for the will of the people or their elected representatives,” he stated, apparently alluding to the November 2003 ruling by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court holding that it is contrary to that state's constitution for gay couples to be denied the right to marry.
Soon after the President declared his intention to push for a Constitutional amendment, an Ohio Senate committee approved a bill that would declare marriage between same-sex couples to be “against the strong public policy of the state.” The bill, passed by the Ohio house in December and introduced to the full senate January 21, would keep some state employees from receiving benefits for their partners and would allow Ohio to refuse to recognize gay marriages entered into outside Ohio. The U.S Supreme Court has held that each state must give full faith and credit to marital relationships arising in another state or territory of the United States unless a particular marriage is polygamous, incestuous, or otherwise declared void by a statute of the state in which the full faith and credit issue is presented. Although current law and the holdings in several Ohio court decisions confirm that only heterosexual marriages may be entered into there, the state's Marriage Law does not explicitly deem same-sex marriages void. As a result, under current law, Ohio might have to recognize such marriages if obtained, for example, in Massachusetts. The bill seeks to foreclose that possibility by explicitly deeming same-sex marriages void.
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
Judge Rules Shaquille O'Neal Will Face Securities Lawsuit for Promotion, Sale of NFTs
A federal district court in Miami, FL, has ruled that former National Basketball Association star Shaquille O'Neal will have to face a lawsuit over his promotion of unregistered securities in the form of cryptocurrency tokens and that he was a "seller" of these unregistered securities.
Why So Many Great Lawyers Stink at Business Development and What Law Firms Are Doing About It
Why is it that those who are best skilled at advocating for others are ill-equipped at advocating for their own skills and what to do about it?
Blockchain Domains: New Developments for Brand Owners
Blockchain domain names offer decentralized alternatives to traditional DNS-based domain names, promising enhanced security, privacy and censorship resistance. However, these benefits come with significant challenges, particularly for brand owners seeking to protect their trademarks in these new digital spaces.
Coverage Issues Stemming from Dry Cleaner Contamination Suits
In recent years, there has been a growing number of dry cleaners claiming to be "organic," "green," or "eco-friendly." While that may be true with respect to some, many dry cleaners continue to use a cleaning method involving the use of a solvent called perchloroethylene, commonly known as perc. And, there seems to be an increasing number of lawsuits stemming from environmental problems associated with historic dry cleaning operations utilizing this chemical.