Why California Matters

Marty Lederman grasps its significance:

Wholly apart from the particular holding on same-sex marriage -- which is plenty important in and of itself -- it strikes me that the most significant legal development in the Court's decision is that it is (to my knowledge) the first time any state or federal court of last resort has held that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is suspect and thus subject to strict scrutiny under a constitutional equal protection clause.